flDafeers  of 


Richard  III. 


BY    JACOB    ABBOTT 


WlTH  ENGRAVINGS 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

HARPER    &   BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 

1904 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty -eight,  by 

HARPER    &     BROTHERS, 

in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York. 


Copyright,  1886,  by  BENJAMIN  VAUGHAN  ABBOTT,  AUSTIN  ABBOTTV 
LYMAN  ABBOTT,  and  EDWARD  ABBOTT. 


PREFACE. 

KING  EICHARD  THE  THIRD,  known  com- 
monly in  history  as  Richard  the  Usurper,  was 
perhaps  as  bad  a  man  as  the  principle  of  hered- 
itary sovereignty  ever  raised  to  the  throne,  or 
perhaps  it  should  rather  be  said,  as  the  principle 
of  hereditary  sovereignty  ever  made.  There 
is  no  evidence  that  his  natural  disposition  was 
marked  with  any  peculiar  depravity.  He  was 
made  reckless,  unscrupulous,  and  cruel  by  the 
influences  which  surrounded  him,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  he  lived,  and  by  being 
habituated  to  believe,  from  his  earliest  child- 
hood, that  the  family  to  which  he  belonged 
were  born  to  live  in  luxury  and  splendor,  and 
to  reign,  while  the  millions  that  formed  the 
great  mass  of  the  community  were  created  only 
to  toil  and  to  obey.  The  manner  in  which  the 
principles  of  pride,  ambition,  and  desperate  love 
of  power,  which  were  instilled  into  his  mind  in 
his  earliest  years,  brought  forth  in  the  end  their 
legitimate  fruits,  is  clearly  seen  by  the  following 
narrative. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  Pmg* 

i.  RICHARD'S  MOTHER 13 

ii.  RICHARD'S  FATHER 33 

III.  THE    CHILDHOOD    OF    RICHARD 57 

IV.  ACCESSION    OF    EDWARD    IV.,   RICHARD'S    ELDER 

BROTHER 67 

V  WARWICK,  THE    KING-MAKER 89 

VI.  THE    DOWNFALL    OF    YORK 118 

VII.  THE    DOWNFALL   CF    LANCASTER 137 

viii.  RICHARD'S  MARRIAGE 165 

IX.  END    OF    THE    REIGN    OF    EDWARD 182 

X.  RICHARD    AND    EDWARD    V 208 

XI.  TAKING   SANCTUARY 221 

XII.  RICHARD    LORD    PROTECTOR 230 

XIII.  PROCLAIMED    KING 258 

XIV.  THE    CORONATION - 279 

XV.  FATE    OF    THE    PRINCES 291 

XVI.  DOMESTIC    TROUBLES 301 

XVTI.  THE    FIELD    OF    BOSWORTH-.                                        .  320- 


ENGRAVINGS. 


Puge 

THE  ROYAL  CHAMPION Frontispiece. 

SCENES    OF    CIVIL   WAR 15 

LUDLOW    CASTLE 26 

CASTLE   AND    PARK    OF    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 29 

HENRY    VI.    IN    HIS    chlLDHOOD 38 

QUEEN    MARGARET    OF   ANJOU,  WIFE    OF    HENRY   VI...  40 

WALLS    OF    YORK 49 

LAST    HOURS    OF    KING    RICHARD'S    FATHER . 54 

CASTLE   AND   GROUNDS    BELONGING   TO   THE   HOUSE   OF 

YORK   .  » 62 

THE  OLD  QUINTAINE 84 

PLAYING  BALL 86 

BATTLE-DOOR  AND  SHUTTLE-COCK 87 

RICHARD'S  SIGNATURE 88 

EDWARD  IV 102 

QUEEN  ELIZABETH  WOODVILLE 103 

WESTMINSTER  IN  TIMES  OF  PUBLIC  CELEBRATIONS.  106 

WARWICK  IN  THE  PRESENCE  OF  THE  FRENCH  KING  112 

THE  SANCTUARY 133 

DEATH  OF  WARWICK  ON  THE  FIELD  OF  BARNET 148 

STREET  LEADING  TO  THE  TOWER 151 

CHURCH  AT  TEWKESBURY .  155 


xii  ENGRAVINGS. 

?•*• 

QUEEN    MARGARET    BROUGHT    IN     PRISONER    AT    COV- 
ENTRY   1 160 

TOMB  OF  HENRY  VI    163 

RICHARD  III 176 

QUEEN  ANNE 177 

MIDDLE!! AM  CASTLE 180 

LOUIS  XI.  OF  FRANCE 184 

THE  MURDERERS  COMING  FOR  CLARENCE 200 

JANE  SHORE 203 

THE  ATTEMPTED  RECONCILIATION 211 

ANCIENT  PORTRAIT  OF  EDWARD  V 219 

ANCIENT  VIEW  OF  WESTMINSTER 228 

THE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  STREETS 235 

CLARENCE'S  CHILDREN  HEARING  OF  THEIR  FATHER'S 

DEATH 237 

THE  COUNCIL  IN  THE  TOWER • 244 

POMFRET  CASTLE  248 

BAYNARD'S  CASTLE 273 

THE  KING  ON  HIS  THRONE 276 

THE  BLOODY  TOWER 283 

QUEEN  ELIZABETH  AT  THE  GRAVE 304 

PORTRAIT  OF  THE  PRINCESS  ELIZABETH 318 

THE  CASTLE  AT  TAMWORTH 325 

KING  HENRY  VII 332 

THE  MONASTERY  AT  BERMONDSEY..  .  335 


KING  RICHARD  III. 

CHAPTER  I. 
EICHABD'S  MOTHER. 

The  great  quarrel  between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster. 

THE  mother  of  King  Kichard  the  Third  was 
a  beautiful,  and,  in  many  respects,  a  noble- 
minded  woman,  though  she  lived  in  very  rude, 
turbulent,  and  trying  times.  She  was  born,  so 
to  speak,  into  one  of  the  most  widely-extended, 
the  most  bitter,  and  the  most  fatal  of  the  family 
.quarrels  which  have  darkened  the  annals  of  the 
great  in  the  whole  history  of  mankind,  namely, 
that  long-protracted  and  bitter  contest  which 
was  waged  for  so  many  years  between  the  two 
great  branches  of  the  family  of  Edward  the 
Third — the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster — for 
the  possession  of  the  kingdom  of  England. 
This  dreadful  quarrel  lasted  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years.  It  led  to  wars  and  commo- 
tions, to  the  sacking  and  burning  of  towns,  to 
the  ravaging  of  fruitful  countries,  and  to  atro- 
cious deeds  of  violence  of  every  sort,  almost 
without  number.  The  internal  peace  of  hund- 


14  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Terrible  results  of  the  quarrel.  Origin  of  it 

reds  of  thousands  of  families  all  over  the  land 
was  destroyed  by  it  for  many  generations.  Hus- 
bands were  alienated  from  wives,  and  parents 
from  children  by  it.  Murders  and  assassina- 
tions innumerable  grew  out  of  it.  And  what 
was  it  all  about  ?  you  will  ask.  It  arose  from 
the  fact  that  the  descendants  of  a  certain  king 
had  married  and  intermarried  among  each  oth- 
er in  such  a  complicated  manner  that  for  sev- 
eral generations  nobody  could  tell  which  of 
two  different  lines  of  candidates  was  fairly  en- 
titled to  the  throne.  The  question  was  settled 
at  last  by  a  prince  who 'inherited  the  claim  on 
one  side  marrying  a  princess  who  was  the  heir 
on  the  other.  Thus  the  conflicting  interests  of 
the  two  houses  were  combined,  and  the  quarrel 
was  ended. 

But,  while  the  question  was  pending,  it  kept 
the  country  in  a  state  of  perpetual  commotion, 
with  feuds,  and  quarrels,  and  combats  innumer- 
able, and  all  the  other  countless  and  indescrib- 
able horrors  of  civil  war. 

The  two  branches  of  the  royal  family  which 
were  engaged  in  this  quarrel  were  called  the 
houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  from  the  fact 
that  those  were  the  titles  of  the  fathers  and 
heads  of  the  two  lines  respectively.  The  Lan- 
caster party  were  the  descendants  of  John  of 


RICHARD'S  MOTHER.  17 

Intricate  questions  of  genealogy  and  descent. 

Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  and  the  York  party 
were  the  successors  and  heirs  of  his  brother  Ed- 
mund, Duke  of  York.  These  men  were  both 
sons  of  Edward  the  Third,  the  King  of  England 
who  reigned  immediately  before  Richard  the 
Second.  A  full  account  of  the  family  is  given 
in  our  history  of  Richard  the  Second.  Of  course, 
they  being  brothers,  their  children  were  cousins, 
and  they  ought  to  have  lived  together  in  peace 
and  harmony.  And  then,  besides  being  relat- 
ed to  each  other  through  their  fathers,  the  two 
branches  of  the  family  intermarried  together,  so 
as  to  make  the  relationships  in  the  following 
generations  so  close  and  so  complicated  that  it 
was  almost  impossible  to  disentangle  them.  In 
reading  the  history  of  those  times,  we  find  dukes 
or  princes  fighting  each  other  in  the  field,  or 
laying  plans  to  assassinate  each  other,  or  striv- 
ing to  see  which  should  make  the  other  a  cap- 
tive, and  shut  him  up  in  a  dungeon  for  the  rest 
of  his  days;  and  yet  these  enemies,  so  exasper- 
ated and  implacable,  are  very  near  relations — 
cousins,  perhaps,  if  the  relationship  is  reckoned 
in  one  way,  and  uncle  and  nephew  if  it  is  reck- 
oned in  another.  During  the  period  of  this 
struggle,  all  the  great  personages  of  the  court, 
and  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  private  families  of  the 
kingdom,  and  all  the  towns  and  the  villages, 

9—2 


18  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Lady  Cecily  Neville.  hhe  becomes  Duchess  of  York. 

were  divided  and  distracted  by  the  dreadful 
feud. 

Richard's  mother,  whose  name,  before  she  was 
married,  was  Lady  Cecily  Neville,  was  born  into 
one  side  of  this  quarrel,  and  then  afterward  mar- 
ried into  the  other  side  of  it.  This  is  a  speci- 
men of  the  way  in  which  the  contest  became 
complicated  in  multitudes  of  cases.  Lady  Ceci- 
ly was  descended  from  the  Duke  of  Lancaster, 
but  she  married  the  Duke  of  York,  in  the  thiixl 
generation  from  the  time  when  the  quarrel 
began. 

Of  course,  upon  her  marriage,  Lady  Cecily 
Neville  became  the  Duchess  of  York.  Her 
husband  was  a  man  of  great  political  import- 
ance in  his  day,  and,  like  the  other  nobles  of 
the  land,  was  employed  continually  in  wars 
and  in  expeditions  of  various  kinds,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  was  continually  changing 
his  residence  from  castle  to  castle  all  over  En- 
gland, and  sometimes  making  excursions  into 
Ireland,  Scotland,  and  France.  His  wife  ac- 
companied him  in  many  of  these  wanderings, 
and  she  led,  of  course,  so  far  as  external  cir- 
cumstances were  concerned,  a  wild  and  adven- 
turous life.  She  was,  however,  very  quiet  and 
domestic  in  her  tastes,  though  proud  and  am- 
bitious in  her  aspirations,  and  she  occupied  her- 


KICHARD'S  MOTHER.  19 

Her  mode  of  life.  Extract  from  the  ancient  annuls. 

self,  wherever  she  was,  in  regulating  her  hus- 
band's household,  teaching  and  training  her 
children,  and  in  attending  with  great  regularity 
and  faithfulness  to  her  religious  duty,  as  relig- 
ious duty  was  understood  in  those  days. 

The,  folio  wing  is  an  account,  copied  from  an 
ancient  record,  of  the  manner  in  which  she  spent 
her  days  at  one  of  the  castles  where  she  was 
residing. 

"  She  useth  to  arise  at  seven  of  the  clock, 
and  hath  readye  her  chapleyne  to  say  with  her 
mattins  of  the  daye  (that  is,  morning  prayers), 
and  when  she  is  fully  readye,  she  hath  a  lowe 
mass  in  her  chamber.  After  mass  she  taketh 
something  to  recreate  nature,  and  soe  goeth  to 
the  chapelle,  hearinge  the  divine  service  and  two 
lowe  masses.  From  thence  to  dynner,  during 
the  tyme  of  whih  she  hath  a  lecture  of  holy  mat- J 
ter  (that  is,  reading  from  a  religious  book),  either 
Hilton  of  Contemplative  and  Active  Life,  or 
some  other  spiritual  and  instructive  work.  After 
dynner  she  giveth  audyence  to  all  such  as  hath 
any  matter  to  shrive  unto  her,  by  the  space  of 
one  hower,  and  then  sleepeth  one  quarter  of  an 
hower,  and  after  she  hath  slept  she  contynueth 
in  prayer  until  the  first  peale  of  even  songe. 

"  In  the  tyme  of  supper  she  reciteth  the  lee- 


20  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Lady  Cecily's  family.  Names  of  the  children. 

ture  that  was  had  at  dynner  to  those  that  be  in 
her  presence.  After  supper  she  disposeth  her- 
self to  be  famyliare  with  her  gentlewomen  to 
the  seasoning  of  honest  myrthe,  and  one  hower 
before  her  going  to  bed  she  taketh  a  cup  of 
wine,  and  after  that  goeth  to  her  pry  vie  closette, 
and  taketh  her  leave  of  God  for  all  nighte,  mak- 
inge  end  of  her  prayers  for  that  daye,  and  by 
cighte  of  the  clocke  is  in  bedde." 

The  going  to  bed  at  eight  o'clock  was  in  keep- 
ing with  the  other  arrangements  of  the  day,  for 
we  find  by  a  record  of  the  rules  and  orders  of 
the  duchess's  household  that  the  dinner-hour 
was  eleven,  and  the  supper  was  at  four. 

This  lady,  Richard's  mother,  during  her  mar- 
ried life,  had  no  less  than  twelve  children. 
Their  names  were  Anne,  Henry,  Edward,  Ed- 
mund, Elizabeth,  Margaret,  William,  John, 
George,  Thomas,  Richard,  and  Ursula.  Thus 
Richard,  the  subject  of  this  volume,  was  the 
eleventh,  that  is,  the  last  but  one.  A  great 
many  of  these,  Richard's  brothers  and  sisters, 
died  while  they  were  children.  All  the  boys 
died  thus  except  four,  namely,  Edward,  Ed- 
mund, George,  and  Richard.  Of  course,  it  is 
only  with  those  four  that  we  have  any  thing  to 
do  in  the  present  narrative. 


RICHARD'S  MOTHER.  21 

The  boys'  situation  and  mode  of  life.  Their  letters. 

Several  of  the  other  children,  however,  be- 
sides these  three,  lived  for  some  time.  They 
resided  generally  with  their  mother  while  they 
were  young,  but  as  they  grew  up  they  were 
often  separated  both  from  her  and  from  their 
father — the  duke,  their  father,  being  often  called 
away  from  home,  in  the  course  of  the  various 
wars  in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  his  wife  fre- 
quently accompanied  him.  On  such  occasions 
the  boys  were  left  at  some  castle  or  other,  under 
the  care  of  persons  employed  to  take  charge  of 
their  education.  They  used  to  write  letters  to 
their  father  from  time  to  time,  and  it  is  curious 
that  these  letters  are  the  earliest  examples  of 
letters  from  children  to  parents  which  have  been 
preserved  in  history.  Two  of  the  boys  were  at 
one  time  under  the  charge  of  a  man  named 
Eichard  Croft,  and  the  boys  thought  that  he 
was  too  strict  with  them.  One  of  the  letters, 
which  has  been  preserved,  was  written  to  com- 
plain of  this  strictness,  or,  as  the  boy  expressed 
it,  "the  odieux  rule  and  demeaning"  of  their 
tutor,  and  also  to  ask  for  some  "  fyne  bonnets," 
which  the  writer  wished  to  have  sent  for  him- 
self and  for  his  little  brother.  There  is  another 
long  letter  extant  which  was  written  at  nearly 
the  same  time.  This  letter  was  written,  or  at 
least  signed,  by  two  of  the  boys,  Edward  and 


22  KING  EICHARD  III. 

I .riitT  written  by  Edward  and  Edmund. 

Edmund,  and  was  addressed  to  their  father  on 
the  occasion  of  some  of  his  victories.  But, 
though  signed  by  the  boys'  names,  I  suspect, 
from  the  lofty  language  in  which  it  is  express- 
ed, and  from  the  many  high-flown  expressions 
of  duty  which  it  contains,  that  it  was  really 
written  for  the  boys  by  their  mother  or  by  one 
of  their  teachers.  Of  this,  however,  the  reader 
can  judge  for  himself  on  perusing  the  letter. 
In  this  copy  the  spelling  is  modernized  so  as  to 
make  it  more  intelligible,  but  the  language  is 
transcribed  exactly  from  the  original. 

"  Right  high  and  mighty  prince,  our  most 
worshipful  and  greatly  redoubted  lord  and  fa- 
ther: 

"  In  as  lowly  a  wise  as  any  sons  can  or  may, 
we  recommend  us  unto  your  good  lordship,  and 
please  it  to  your  highness  to  wit,  that  we  have 
received  your  worshipful  letters  yesterday  by 
your  servant  William  Clinton,  bearing  date  at 
York,  the  29th  day  of  May.* 

"  By  the  which  William,  and  by  the  relation 
of  John  Milewater,  we  conceive  your  worship- 
ful and  victorious  speed  against  your  enemies, 

*  There  were  no  postal  arrangements  in  those  days,  and 
all  letters  were  sent  by  private,  and  generally  by  special  mes- 
sengers. 


EICHARD'S  MOTHER.  23 

The  boys  congratulate  their  father  on  his  victories. 

to  their  great  shame,  and  to  us  the  most  comfort- 
able things  that  we  desire  to  hear.  Whereof 
we  thank  Almighty  God  of  his  gifts,  beseech- 
ing him  heartily  to  give  you  that  good  and  co- 
tidian*  fortune  hereafter  to  know  your  enemies, 
and  to  have  the  victory  over  them. 

"  And  if  it  please  your  highness  to  know  of 
our  welfare,' at  the  making  of  this  letter  we  were 
in  good  health  of  body,  thanked  be  God,  be- 
seeching your  good  and  gracious  fatherhood  for 
our  daily  blessing. 

"And  whereas  you  command  us  by  your 
said  letters  to  attend  specially  to  our  learning 
in  our  young  age,  that  should  cause  us  to  grow 
to  honor  and  worship  in  our  old  age,  please  it 
your  highness  to  wit,  that  we  have  attended  to 
our  learning  since  we  came  hither,  and  shall 
hereafter,  by  the  which  we  trust  to  God  your 
gracious  lordship  and  good  fatherhood  shall  be 
pleased. 

"  Also  we  beseech  your  good  lordship  that 
it  may  please  you  to  send  us  Harry  Lovedeyne, 
groom  of  your  kitchen,  whose  service  is  to  us 
right  agreeable ;  and  we  will  send  you  John 
Boyes  to  wait  upon  your  lordship. 

"Eight  high  and  mighty  prince,  our  mosi 
worshipful  and  greatly  redoubted  lord  and  fa- 

*  Daily. 


24  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Farther  particulars  about  the  boys. 

ther,  we  beseech  Almighty  God  to  give  you  as 
good  life  and  long  as  your  own  princely  heart 
can  best  desire. 

"  Written  at  your  Castle  of  Ludlow,  the  3d 
of  June. 

"  Your  humble  sons, 

"  E.  MARCHE. 
"  E.  RUTLAND." 

The  subscriptions  E.  March  and  E.  Rutland 
stand  for  Edward,  Earl  of  March,  and  Edmund, 
Earl  of  Rutland ;  for,  though  these  boys  were 
then  only  eleven  and  twelve  years  of  age  re- 
spectively, they  were  both  earls.  One  of  them, 
afterward,  when  he  was  about  seventeen  years 
old,  was  cruelly  killed  on  the  field  of  battle, 
where  he  had  been  fighting  with  his  father,  as 
we  shall  see  in  another  chapter.  The  other, 
Edward,  became  King  of  England.  He  came 
immediately  before  Richard  the  Third  in  the 
line. 

The  letter  which  the  boys  wrote  was  super- 
scribed as  follows : 

"  To  the  right  high  and  mighty  prince,  our 
most  worshipful  and  greatly  redoubted  lord  and 
father,  the  Duke  of  York,  Protector  and  De- 
fender of  England." 


BICHARD'S  MOTHER.  27 

The  Castle  of  Ludlow.  (Jharacter  of  Richard's  mother. 

The  castle  of  Ludlow,  where  the  boys  were 
residing  when  this  letter  was  written,  was  a 
strong  fortress  built  upon  a  rock  in  the  western 
part  of  England,  not  far  from  Shrewsbury.  The 
engraving  is  a  correct  representation  of  it,  as  it 
appeared  at  the  period  when  those  boys  were 
there,  and  it  gives  a  very  good  idea  of  the  sort 
of  place  where  kings  and  princes  were  accus- 
tomed to  send  their  families  for  safety  in  those 
stormy  times.  Soon  after  the  period  of  which 
we  are  speaking,  Ludlow  Castle  was  sacked  and 
destroyed.  The  ruins  of  it,  however,  remain  to 
the  present  day,  and  they  are  visited  with  much 
interest  by  great  numbers  of  modern  travelers. 

Lady  Cecily,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  in 
many  respects  a  noble  woman,  and  a  most  faith- 
ful and  devoted  wife  and  mother;  she  was, 
however,  of  a  very  lofty  and  ambitious  spirit, 
and  extremely  proud  of  her  rank  and  station. 
Almost  all  her  brothers  and  sisters — and  the 
family  was  very  large — were  peers  and  peer- 
esses, and  when  she  married  Prince  Kichard 
Plantagenet,  her  heart  beat  high  with  exultation 
and  joy  to  think  that  she  was  about  to  become 
a  queen.  She  believed  that  Prince  Kichard 
was  fully  entitled  to  the  throne  at  that  time, 
for  reasons  which  will  be  fully  explained  in  the 
next  chapter,  and  that,  even  if  his  claims  should 


28  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Spirit  qf  aristocracy.       Kelative  condition  of  the  nobles  and  the  people. 

not  be  recognized  until  the  death  of  the  king 
who  was  then  reigning,  they  certainly  would  be 
so  recognized  then,  and  she  would  become  an 
acknowledged  queen,  as  she  thought  she  was 
already  one  by  right.  So  she  felt  greatly  ex- 
alted in  spirit,  and  moved  and  acted  among  all 
who  surrounded  her  with  an  air  of  stately  re- 
serve of  the  most  grand  and  aristocratic  char- 
acter. 

In  fact,  there  has,  perhaps,  no  time  and  place 
been  known  in  the  history  of  the  world  in 
which  the  spirit  of  aristocracy  was  more  lofty 
and  overbearing  in  its  character  than  in  En- 
gland during  the  period  when  the  Plantagenet 
family  were  in  prosperity  and  power.  The  no- 
bles formed  then,  far  more  strikingly  than  they 
do  now,  an  entirely  distinct  and  exalted  class, 
that  looked  down  upon  all  other  ranks  and  gra- 
dations of  society  as  infinitely  beneath  them. 
Their  only  occupation  was  war,  and  they  re- 
garded all  those  who  were  engaged  in  any  em- 
ployments whatever,  that  were  connected  with 
art  or  industry,  with  utter  disdain.  These  last 
were  crowded  together  in  villages  and  towns 
which  were  formed  of  dark  and  narrow  streets, 
and  rude  and  comfortless  dwellings.  The  no- 
bles lived  in  grand  castles  scattered  here  and 
there  over  the  country,  with  extensive  parks 


RICHARD'S  MOTHER.  31 

i 

Character  of  Richard's  mother.  The  governew. 

and  pleasure-grounds  around  them,  where  they 
loved  to  marshal  their  followers,  and  inaugu- 
rate marauding  expeditions  against  their  rivals 
or  their  enemies.  They  were  engaged  in  con- 
stant wars  and  contentions  with  each  other, 
each  thirsting  for  more  power  and  more  splen- 
dor than  he  at  present  enjoyed,  and  treating  all 
beneath  him  with  the  utmost  haughtiness  and 
disdain.  Richard's  mother  exhibited  this  aris- 
tocratic loftiness  of  spirit  in  a  very  high  de- 
gree, and  it  was  undoubtedly  in  a  great  manner 
through  the  influence  which  she  exerted  over 
her  children  that  they  were  inspired  with  those 
sentiments  of  ambition  and  love  of  glory  to 
which  the  crimes  and  miseries  into  which  sev- 
eral of  them  fell  in  their  subsequent  career  were 
owing. 

To  assist  her  in  'the  early  education  of  her 
children,  Richard's  mother  appointed  one  of  the 
ladies  of  the  court  their  governess.  This  gov- 
erness was  a  personage  of  very  high  rank,  be- 
ing descended  from  the  royal  line.  With  the 
ideas  which  Lady  Cecily  entertained  of  the  ex- 
alted position  of  her  family,  and  of  the  future 
destiny  of  her  children,  none  but  a  lady  of  high 
rank  would  be  thought  worthy  of  being  in- 
trusted with  such  a  charge.  The  name  of  the 
governess  was  Lady  Mortimer. 


32  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Sir  Richard  Croft,  the  boys'  governor. 

The  boys,  as  they  grew  older,  were  placed 
under  the  charge  of  a  governor  His  name  was 
Sir  Richard  Croft.  It  is  this  Sir  Richard  that 
they  allude  to  in  their  letter.  He,  too,  was  a 
person  of  high  rank  and  of  great  military  dis- 
tinction. The  boys,  however,  thought  him  too 
strict  and  severe  with  them ;  at  least  so  it  would 
seem,  from  the  manner  in  which  they  speak  of 
him  in  the  letter. 

The  governor  and  the  governess  appear  to 
have  liked  each  other  very  well,  for  after  a  time 
Sir  Richard  offered  himself  to  Lady  Mortimer, 
and  they  were  married. 

Besides  Ludlow  Castle,  Prince  Richard  had 
several  other  strongholds,  where  his  wife  from 
time  to  time  resided.  Richard,  who  was  one 
of  the  youngest  of  the  children,  was  born  at 
one  of  these,  called  Fotheringay  Castle ;  but, 
before  coming  to  the  event  of  his  birth,  I  must 
give  some  account  of  the  history  and  fortunes 
of  his  father. 


EICHARD'S  FATHER.  33 

Genealogy  of  Richard  Plantagenet  Family  of  Edward  IIL 


CHAPTER  II. 
KICHARD'S  FATHER. 

RICHARD'S  father  was  a  prince  of  the  house 
of  York.  In  the  course  of  his  life  he  was 
declared  heir  to  the  crown,  but  he  died  before 
he  attained  possession  of  it,  thus  leaving  it  for 
his  children.  The  nature  of  his  claim  to  the 
crown,  and,  indeed,  the  general  relation  of  the 
various  branches  of  the  family  to  each  other, 
will  be  seen  by  the  genealogical  table  on  the 
next  page  but  one. 

Edward  the  Third,  who  reigned  more  than 
one  hundred  years  before  Richard  the  Third, 
and  his  queen  Philippa,  left  at  their  decease  four 
sons,  as  appears  by  the  table.*  They  had  other 
children  besides  these,  but  it  was  only  these 
four,  namely,  Edward,  Lionel,  John,  and  Ed- 
mund, whose  descendants  were  involved  in  the 
quarrels  for  the  succession.  The  others  either 
died  young,  or  else,  if  they  arrived  at  maturity, 
the  lines  descending  from  them  soon  became 
extinct. 

Of  the  four  that  survived,  the  oldest  was  Ed- 

*  See  page  35. 
9— 3 


34  KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1415. 

Succession  of  heira  in  the  family  of  Kdward  III. 

ward,  called  in  history  the  Black  Prince.  A 
full  account  of  his  life  and  adventures  is  given 
in  our  history  of  Eichard  the  Second.  He  died 
before  his  father,  and  so  did  not  attain  to  the 
crown.  He,  however,  left  his  son  Richard  his 
heir,  and  at  Edward's  death  Richard  became 
king.  Richard  reigned  twenty  years,  and  then, 
in  consequence  of  his  numerous  vices  and 
crimes,  and  of  his  general  mismanagement,  he 
was  deposed,  and  Henry,  the  son  of  John  of 
Gaunt,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  Edward's  third  son, 
ascended  the  throne  in  his  stead. 

Now,  as  appears  by  the  table,  John  of  Gaunt 
was  the  third  of  the  four  sons,  Lionel,  Duke  of 
Clarence,  being  the  second.  The  descendants 
of  Lionel  would  properly  have  come  before 
those  of  John  in  the  succession,  but  it  happen- 
ed that  the  only  descendants  of  Lionel  were 
Philippa,  a  daughter,  and  Roger,  a  grandchild, 
who  was  at  this  time  an  infant.  Neither  of 
these  were  able  to  assert  their  claims,  although 
in  theory  their  claims  were  acknowledged  to 
be  prior  to  those  of  the  descendants  of  John. 
The  people  of  England,  however,  were  so  desir- 
ous to  be  rid  of  Richard,  that  they  were  will- 
ing to  submit  to  the  reign  of  any  member  of 
the  royal  iamily  who  should  prove  strong 
enough  to  dispossess  him.  So  they  accepted 


EICHARD'S   FATHER. 


Genealogical  table  of  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster. 

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80  KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1415. 

Union  of  the  houses  of  Clarence  and  York. 

Henry  of  Lancaster,  who  ascended  the  throne 
as  Henry  the  Fourth,  and  he  and  his  successors 
in  the  Lancastrian  line,  Henry  the  Fifth  and 
Henry  the  Sixth,  held  the  throne  for  many 
years. 

Still,  though  the  people  of  England  general- 
ly acquiesced  in  this,  the  families  of  the  other 
brothers,  namely,  of  Lionel  and  Edmund,  called 
generally  the  houses  of  Clarence  and  of  York, 
were  not  satisfied.  They  combined  together, 
and  formed  a  great  many  plots  and  conspira- 
cies against  the  house  of  Lancaster,  and  many 
insurrections  and  wars,  and  many  cruel  deeds 
of  violence  and  murder  grew  out  of  the  quar- 
rel. At  length,  to  strengthen  their  alliance 
more  fully,  Richard,  the  second  son  of  Edmund 
of  York,  married  Anne,  a  descendant  of  the 
Clarence  line.  The  other  children,  who  came 
before  these,  in  the  two  lines,  soon  afterward 
died,  leaving  the  inheritance  of  both  to  this  pair. 
Their  son  was  Richard,  the  father  of  Richard 
the  Third.  He  is  called  Richard  Plantagenet, 
Duke  of  York.  On  the  death  of  his  father  and 
mother,  he,  of  course,  became  the  heir  not  only 
of  the  immense  estates  and  baronial  rights  of 
both  the  lines  from  which  he  had  descended, 
but  also  of  tKe  claims  of  the  older  line  to  the 
crown  of  England. 


A.D.1415.]  RICHARD'S  FATHER.  37 

Richard  Hantagenet  a  prisoner.  King  Henry  VI. 

The  successive  generations  of  these  three 
lines,  down  to  the  period  of  the  union  of  the 
second  and  fourth,  cutting  off  the  third,  is 
shown  clearly  in  the  table. 

Of  course,  the  Lancaster  line  were  much 
alarmed  at  the  combination  of  the  claims  of 
their  rivals.  King  Henry  the  Fifth  was  at  that 
period  on  the  throne,  and,  by  the  time  that 
Richard  Plantagenet  was  three  years  old,  un- 
der pretense  of  protecting  him  from  danger,  he 
caused  him  to  be  shut  up  in  a  castle,  and  kept 
a  close  prisoner  there. 

Time  rolled  on.  King  Henry  the  Fifth  died, 
and  Henry  the  Sixth  succeeded  him.  Richard 
Plantagenet  was  still  watched  and  guarded ;  but 
at  length,  by  the  time  that  Richard  was  thir- 
teen years  old,  the  power  and  influence  of  his 
branch  of  the  royal  family,  or  rather  those  of 
the  two  branches  from  which,  combined,  he 
was  descended,  were  found  to  be  increasing, 
while  that  of  the  house  of  Lancaster  was  de- 
clining. After  a  time  he  was  brought  out  from 
his  imprisonment,  and  restored  to  his  rank  and 
station.  King  Henry  the  Sixth  was  a  man  of 
a  very  weak  and  timid  mind.  He  was  quite 
young  too,  being,  in  fact,  a  mere  child  when 
he  began  to  reign,  and  every  thing  went  wrong 
with  his  government  While  he  was  young,  he 


38 


KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1425. 


His  gentle  and  quiet  character. 


Portrait. 


could,  of  course,  do  nothing,  and  when  he  grew 
older  he  was  too  gentle  and  forbearing  to  con- 
trol the  rough  and  turbulent  spirits  around  him. 
He  had  no  taste  for  war  and  bloodshed,  but 
loved  retirement  and  seclusion,  and,  as  he  ad- 
vanced in  years,  he  fell  into  the  habit  of  spend- 
ing a  great  deal  of  his  time  in  acts  of  piety  ^and 
devotion,  performed  according  to  the  ideas  and 
customs  of  the  times.  The  annexed  engraving, 
representing  him  as  he  appeared  when  he  was 


HE>TBY  VI.    IN    HIS   CHILDHOOD. 


A J).  1425.]  KICHARD'S  FATHER.  39 

Discontent  of  the  people.  Arrangements  made  for  the  succession. 

a  boy,  is  copied  from  the  ancient  portraits,  and 
well  expresses  the  mild  and  gentle  traits  which 
marked  his  disposition  and  character. 

Such  being  the  disposition  and  character  of 
Henry,  every  thing  during  his  reign  went 
wrong,  and  this  state  of  things,  growing  worse 
and  worse  as  he  advanced  in  life,  greatly  en- 
couraged and  strengthened  the  house  of  York 
in  the  effort  which  they  were  inclined  to  make 
to  bring  their  own  branch  of  the  family  to  the 
throne. 

"  See,"  said  they,  "what  we  come  to  by  al- 
lowing a  line  of  usurpers  to  reign.  These  Hen- 
rys of  Lancaster  are  all  descended  from  a  young- 
er son,  while  the  heirs  of  the  older  are  living, 
and  have  a  right  to  the  throne.  Richard  Plan- 
tagenet  is  the  true  and  proper  heir.  He  is 
a  man  of  energy.  Let  us  make  him  king." 

But  the  people  of  England,  though  they  grad- 
ually came  to  desire  the  change,  were  not  will- 
ing yet  to  plunge  the  country  again  into  a  state 
of  civil  war  for  the  purpose  of  making  it.  They 
would  not  disturb  Henry,  they  said,  while  he 
continued  to  live ;  but  there  was  nobody  to  suc- 
ceed him,  and,  when  he  died,  Richard  Plantag- 
enet  should  be  king. 

Henry  was  married  at  this  time,  but  he  had 
no  children.  The  name  of  his  wife  was  Mar- 


40 


KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1425. 


Character  of  Margaret  of  Anjou. 


garet  of  Anjou.  She  was  a  very  extraordinary 
and  celebrated  woman.  Though  very  beauti- 
ful in  person,  she  was  as  energetic  and  mascu- 
line in  character  as  her  poor  husband  was  ef- 
feminate and  weak,  and  she  took  ev^ry  thing 


QCEEN    MAEliARET  OF  ASJOU,  W1FK  OF    HKNBY  VI. 

into  her  own  hands.     This,  however,  made  mat- 
ters worse  instead  of  better,  and  the  whole  coun- 


A.D.1454.]  RICHARD'S  FATHER.  41 

No  children.  Feeble  and  failing  capacity  of  the  king. 

try  seemed  to  rejoice  that  she  had  no  children, 
for  thus,  on  the  death  of  Henry,  the  line  would 
become  extinct,  and  Richard  Plantagenet  and 
his  descendants  would  succeed,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  in  a  quiet  and  peaceful  manner.  As 
Henry  and  Margaret  had  now  been  married 
eight  or  nine  years  without  any  children,  it  was 
supposed  that  they  never  would  have  any. 

Accordingly,  Richard  Plantagenet  was  uni- 
versally looked  upon  as  Henry's  successor, 
and  the  time  seemed  to  be  drawing  nigh  when 
the  change  of  dynasty  was  to  take  place.  Hen- 
ry's health  was  very  feeble.  He  seemed  to  be 
rapidly  declining.  His  mind  was  affected,  too, 
quite  seriously,  and  he  sometimes  sank  into  a 
species  of  torpor  from  which  nothing  could 
arouse  him. 

Indeed,  it  became  difficult  to  carry  on  the 
government  in  his  name,  for  the  king  sank  at 
last  into  such  a  state  of  imbecility  that  it  was 
impossible  to  obtain  from  him  the  least  sign  or 
token  that  would  serve,  even  for  form's  sake,  as 
an  assent  on  his  part  to  the  royal  decrees.  At 
one  time  Parliament  appointed  a  commission  to 
visit  him  in  his  chamber,  for  the  purpose  of  as- 
certaining the  state  that  he  was  in,  and  to  see 
also  whether  they  could  not  get  some  token 
from  him  which  thev  could  consider  as  his  as- 


42  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Richard  1'lantagenet  formally  declared  the  heir. 

sent  to  certain  measures  which  it  was  deemed 
important  to  take ;  but  they  could  not  get  from 
the  king  any  answer  or  sign  of  any  kind,  not- 
withstanding all  that  they  could  do  or  say. 
They  retired  for  a  time,  and  afterward  came 
back  again  to  make  a  second  attempt,  and  then, 
as  an  ancient  narrative  records  the  story,  "they 
moved  and  stirred  him  by  all  the  ways  and 
means  that  they  could  think  of  to  have  an  an- 
swer of  the  said  matter,  but  they  could  have  no 
answer,  word  nor  sign,  and  therefore,  with  sor- 
rowful hearts,  came  away." 

This  being  the  state  of  things,  Parliament 
thought  it  time  to  make  some  definite  arrange- 
ments for  the  succession.  Accordingly,  they 
passed  a  formal  and  solemn  enactment  declar- 
ing Richard  Plantagenet  heir  presumptive  of 
the  crown,  and  investing  him  with  the  rank  and 
privileges  pertaining  to  that  position.  They 
also  appointed  him,  for  the  present,  Protector 
and  defender  of  the  realm. 

Eichard,  the  subject  of  this  volume,  was  at 
this  time  an  infant  two  years  old.  The  other 
ten  children  had  been  born  at  various  periods 
before. 

It  was  now,  of  course,  expected  that  Henry 
would  soon  die,  and  that  then  Richard  Plan- 
tagenet would  at  once  ascend  the  throne,  ac- 


RICHARD'S  FATHER.  43 

Unexpected  birth  of  a  prince.  Suspicions. 

knowledged  by  the  whole  realm  as  the  sole  and 
rightful  heir.  But  these  expectations  were  sud- 
denly disturbed,  and  the  whole  kingdom  was 
thrown  into  a  state  of  great  excitement  and 
alarm  by  the  news  of  a  very  unexpected  and 
important  event  which  occurred  at  this  time, 
namely,  the  birth  of  a  child  to  Margaret,  the 
queen.  This  event  awakened  all  the  latent 
fires  of  civil  dissension  and  discord  anew.  The 
Lancastrian  party,  of  course,  at  once  rallied 
around  the  infant  prince,  who,  they  claimed, 
was  the  rightful  heir  to  the  crown.  They  be- 
gan at  once  to  reconstruct  and  strengthen  their 
plans,  and  to  shape  their  measures  with  a  view 
to  retain  the  kingdom  in  the  Lancaster  line. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  friends  of  the  combined 
houses  of  Clarence  and  York  declared  that  they 
would  not  acknowledge  the  new-comer  as  the 
rightful  heir.  They  did  not  believe  that  he  was 
the  son  of  the  king,  for  he,  as  they  said,  had 
been  for  a  long  time  as  good  as  dead.  Some 
said  that  they  did  not  even  believe  that  the 
child  was  Margaret's  son.  There  was  a  story 
that  she  had  had  a  child,  but  that  he  was  very 
weak  and  puny,  and  that  he  had  died  soon  aft- 
er his  birth,  and  that  Margaret  had  cunningly 
substituted  another  child  in  his  place,  in  order 
to  retain  her  position  and  power  by  having  a 


44  KING  EICHAKD  III. 

Various  plans  and  speculation*.  Richard's  hopes. 

supposed  son  of  hers  reign  as  king  after  her  hus- 
band should  die.  Margaret  was  a  woman  of  so 
ambitious  and  unscrupulous  a  character,  that 
she  was  generally  believed  capable  of  adopting 
any  measures,  however  criminal  and  bold,  to 
accomplish  her  ends. 

But,  notwithstanding  these  rumors,  Parlia- 
ment acknowledged  the  infant  as  his  father's 
son  and  heir.  He  was  named  Edward,  and  cre- 
ated at  once  Prince  of  Wales,  which  act  was  a 
solemn  acknowledgment  of  his  right  to  the  suc- 
cession. Prince  Eichard  made  no  open  oppo- 
sition to  this ;  for,  although  he  and  his  friends 
maintained  that  he  had  a  right  to  the  crown, 
they  thought  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come 
for  openly  advancing  their  claim,  so  for  the  pres- 
ent they  determined  to  be  quiet.  The  child 
might  not  survive,  and  his  father,  the  king,  be- 
ing in  so  helpless  and  precarious  a  condition, 
might  cease  to  live  at  any  time;  and  if  it  should 
so  happen  that  both  the  father  and  the  child 
should  die,  Richard  would,  of  course,  succeed  at 
once,  without  any  question.  He  accordingly 
thought  it  best  to  wait  a  little  while,  and  see 
what  turn  things  would  take. 

He  soon  found  that  things  were  taking  the 
wrong  turn.-  The  child  lived,  and  appeared 
likely  to  continue  to  live,  and,  what  was  per- 


A.D.  1459.]  RICHARD'S  FATHER.  45 

Progress  of  the  formation  of  parties. 

imps  worse  for  him,  the  king,  instead  of  declin- 
ing more  and  more,  began  to  revive.  In  a  short 
time  he  was  able  to  attend  to  business  again,  at 
least  so  far  as  to  express  his  assent  to  measures 
prepared  for  him  by  his  ministers.  Prince  Rich- 
ard was  accordingly  called  upon  to  resign  his 
protectorate.  He  thought  it  best  to  yield  to  this 
proposal,  and  he  did  so,  and  thus  the  govern- 
ment was  once  more  in  Henry's  hands. 

Things  went  on  in  this  way  for  two  or  three 
years,  but  the  breach  between  the  two  great 
parties  was  all  the  time  widening.  Difficulties 
multiplied  in  number  and  increased  in  magni- 
tude. The  country  took  sides.  Armed  forces 
were  organized  on  one  side  and  on  the  other, 
and  at  length  Prince  Richard  openly  claimed 
the  crown  as  his  right.  This  led  to  a  long  and 
violent  discussion  in  Parliament.  The  result 
was,  that  a  majority  was  obtained  to  vote  in  fa- 
vor of  Prince  Richard's  right.  The  Parliament 
decreed,  however,  that  the  existing  state  of 
things  should  not  be  disturbed  so  long  as  Hen- 
ry continued  to  liver  but  that  at  Henry's  death 
the  crown  should  descend,  not  to  little  Edward 
his  son,  the  infant  Prince  of  Wales,  but  to 
Prince  Richard  Plantagenet  and  his  descend- 
ants forever. 

Queen  Margaret  was  at  this  time  at  a  castle 


46  KING  KICHARD  III.  [A.D.1460. 

Queen  Margaret's  resolution  and  energy.  Wars. 

in  Wales,  where  she  had  gone  with  the  child, 
in  order  to  keep  him  in  a  place  of  safety  while 
these  stormy  discussions  were  pending.  When 
she  heard  that  Parliament  had  passed  a  law  set- 
ting aside  the  claims  of  her  child,  she  declared 
that  she  would  never  submit  to  it.  She  imme- 
diately sent  messengers  all  over  the  northern 
part  of  the  kingdom,  summoning  the  faithful 
followers  of  the  king  every  where  to  arm  them- 
selves and  assemble  near  the  frontier.  She  her- 
self went  to  Scotland  to  ask  for  aid.  The  King 
of  Scotland  at  that  time  was  a  child,  but  he  was 
related  to  the  Lancastrian  family,  his  grand- 
mother having  been  a  descendant  of  John  of 
Gaunt,  the  head  of  the  Lancaster  line.  He  was 
too  young  to  take  any  part  .in  the  war,  but  his 
mother,  who  was  acting  as  regent,  furnished 
Margaret  with  troops.  Margaret,  putting  her- 
self at  the  head  of  these  forces,  marched  across 
the  frontier  into  England,  and  joined  herself 
there  to  the  other  forces  which  had  assembled 
in  answer  to  her  summons. 

In  the  mean  time,  Prince  Richard  had  assem- 
bled his  adherents  too,  and  had  commenced  his 
march  to  the  northward  to  meet  his  enemies. 
He  took  his  two  oldest  sons  with  him,  the  two 
that  wrote  the  letter  quoted  in  the  last  chapter. 
One  of  these  you  will  recollect  was  Edward, 


A.D.1461.]  RICHARD'S  FATHER.  47 

Richard's  two  brothers,  Edward  and  Edmund. 

Earl  ot  Marche,  and  the  second  was  Edmund, 
Earl  of  Rutland.  Edward  was  now  about  eight- 
een years  of  age,  and  his  brother  Edmund 
about  seventeen.  One  would  have  said  that  at 
this  period  of  life  they  were  altogether  too 
young  to  be  exposed  to  the  hardships,  fatigues, 
and  dangers  of  a  martial  campaign ;  but  it  was 
the  custom  in  those  times  for  princes  and  no- 
bles to  be  taken  with  their  fathers  to  fields  of 
battle  at  a  very  early  age.  And  these  youthful 
warriors  were  really  of  great  service  too,  for 
the  interest  which  they  inspired  among  all  ranks 
of  the  army  was  so  great,  especially  when  their 
rank  was  very  high,  that  they  were  often  the 
means  of  greatly  increasing  the  numbers  and 
the  enthusiasm  of  their  fathers'  followers. 

Edward,  indeed,  was  in  this  instance  deemed 
old  enough  to  be  sent  off  on  an  independent 
service,  and  so,  while  the  prince  moved  forward 
with  the  main  body  of  his  army  toward  the 
north,  he  dispatched  Edward,  accompanied  by 
a  suitable  escort,  to  the  westward,  toward  the 
frontiers  of  Wales,  to  assemble  all  the  armed 
men  that  he  could  find  in  that  part  of  the  king- 
dom who  were  disposed  to  espouse  his  cause. 
Edmund,  who  was  a  year  younger  than  Ed- 
ward, went  with  his  father. 

The  prince  proceeded  to  the  city  of  York, 


48  KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1461. 

The  walla  of  York.  Prince  liichard  at  York. 

which  was  then  a  fortified  place  of  great  strength. 
The  engraving  gives  a  very  good  idea  of  the 
appearance  of  the  walls  in  those  times.  These 
walls  remain,  indeed,  almost  entire  at  the  pres- 
ent day,  and  they  are  visited  a  great  deal  by 
tourists  and  travelers,  being  regarded  with  much 
interest  as  furnishing  a  very  complete  and  well- 
preserved  specimen  of  the  mural  fortifications 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  Such  walls,  however, 
would  be  almost  entirely  useless  now  as  means 
of  defense,  since  they  would  not  stand  at  alJ 
against  an  attack  from  modern  artillery. 

The  great  church  seen  over  the  walls,  in  the 
heart  of  the  city,  is  the  famous  York  minster, 
one  of  the  grandest  Cathedral  churches  in  En- 
gland. It  was  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  in 
building,  and  it  was  completed  about  two  cen- 
turies before  Richard's  day. 

When  Prince  Richard  reached  York,  he  en- 
tered the  town,  and  established  himself  there, 
with  a  view  of  waiting  till  his  son  should  ar- 
rive with  the  re-enforcements  which  he  had 
been  sent  to  seek  in  the  western  part  of  England. 

While  he  was  there,  and  before  the  re-enforce- 
ments came,  the  queen,  at  the  head  of  her  army 
from  Scotland,  which  was  strengthened,  more- 
over, by  the  troops  which  she  had  obtained  in 
the  north  of  England,  came  marching  on  down 


9—4 


A.D.1461.]  KICHARD'S  FATHER.  51 

Boldness  of  the  queen.  The  advice  of  Richard' s  counselors. 

the  country  in  great  force.  When  she  came 
into  the  neighborhood  of  York,  she  encamped, 
and  then  sent  messengers  to  Prince  Richard, 
taunting  and  deriding  him  for  having  shut  him- 
self up  within  fortified  walls,  and  daring  him  to 
come  out  into  the  open  field  and  fight  her. 

The  prince's  counselors  advised  him  to  do  no 
such  thing.  One  of  them  in  particular,  a  cer- 
tain Sir  Davy  Hall,  who  was  an  old  and  faith- 
ful officer  in  the  prince's  service,  urged  him  to 
pay  no  attention  to  Queen  Margaret's  taunts. 

"  We  are  not  strong  enough  yet,"  said  he, 
"  to  meet  the  army  which  she  has  assembled. 
We  must  wait  till  our  re-enforcements  come. 
By  going  out  now  we  shall  put  our  cause  in 
great  peril,  and  all  to  no  purpose  whatever." 

"Ah!  Davy,  Davy,"  said  the  prince,  "hast 
thou  loved  me  so  long,  and  now  wouldst  thou 
have  me  dishonored?  When  I  was  regent  in 
Normandy,  thou  never  sawest  me  keep  fortress, 
even  when  the  dauphin  himself,  with  all  his 
power,  came  to  besiege  me.*  I  always,  like  a 
man,  came  forth  to  meet  him,  instead  of  remain- 
ing within  my  walls,  like  a  bird  shut  up  in  a 

*  In  former  years  Prince  Richard  had  acted  as  viceroy  of 
the  English  possessions  in  France,  under  King  Henry,  and 
while  there  he  had  been  engaged  in  wars  with  the  King  of 
France,  and  with  the  dauphin,  his  son. 


52  KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1461. 

Richard's  reply.  The  battle.  Richard  defeated. 

cage.  Now  if  I  did  not  then  keep  myself  shut 
up  for  fear  of  a  great,  strong  prince,  do  you 
think  I  will  now,  for  dread  of  a  scolding  woman, 
whose  weapons  are  only  her  tongue  and  her 
nails,  and  thus  give  people  occasion  to  say  that 
I  turned  dastard  before  a  woman,  when  no  man 
had  ever  been  able  to  make  me  fear?  No, 
I  will  never  submit  to  such  disgrace.  I  would 
rather  die  in  honor  than  live  in  shame;  and 
so  the  great  numbers  of  our  enemies  do  not  de- 
ter me  in  the  least ;  they  rather  encourage  me ; 
therefore,  in  the  name  of  God  and  St.  Greorge, 
advance  my  banner,  for  I  am  determined  that  I 
will  go  out  and  fight  them,  if  I  go  alone." 

So  Prince  Richard  came  forth  from  the  gates 
of  York  at  the  head  of  his  columns,  and  rode  on 
toward  the  queen's  camp.  Edmund  went  with 
him.  Edmund  was  under  the  care  of  his  tutor, 
Robert  Aspell,  who  was  charged  to  keep  close 
to  his  side,  and  to  watch  over  him  in  the  most 
vigilant  manner.  The  army  of  the  queen  was 
at  some  distance  from  York,  at  a  place  called 
Wakefield.  Both  parties,  as  is  usual  in  civil 
wars,  were  extremely  exasperated  against  each 
other,  and  the  battle  was  desperately  fought. 
It  was  very  brief,  however,  and  Richard's  troops 
were  defeated.  Richard  himself  was  taken  pris- 
oner. Edmund  endeavored  to  escape.  His 


A.D.146L]  RICHARD'S  FATHER.  55 

Death  of  Edmund.  Death  of  Richard. 

tutor  endeavored  to  hurry  him  off  the  field,  but 
he  was  stopped  on  the  way  by.  a  certain  noble- 
man of  the  queen's  party,  named  Lord  Clifford. 
The  poor  boy  begged  hard  for  mercy,  but  Clif- 
ford killed  him  on  the  spot. 

The  prince's  army,  when  they  found  that  the 
battle  had  gone  against  them,  and  that  their 
captain  was  a  prisoner,  fled  in  all  directions  over 
the  surrounding  country,  leaving  great  numbers 
dead  upon  the  field.  The  prince  himself,  as 
soon  as  he  was  taken,  was  disarmed  on  the  field, 
and  all  the  leaders  of  the  queen's  army,  includ- 
ing, as  the  most  authentic  accounts  relate,  the 
queen  herself,  gathered  around  him  in  wild  ex- 
ultation. They  carried  him  to  a  mound  form- 
ed by  an  ant-hill,  which  they  said,  in  mockery, 
should  be  his  throne.  They  placed  him  upon 
it  with  taunts  and  derision.  They  made  a 
crown  for  him  of  knotted  grass,  and  put  it  upon 
his  head,  and  then  made  mock  obeisances  be- 
fore him,  saying,  "  Hail !  king  without  a  king- 
dom. Hail !  prince,  without  a  people." 

After  having  satisfied  themselves  with  their 
taunts  and  revilings,  the  party  killed  their  pris- 
oner and  cut  off  his  head.  They  set  his  head 
upon  the  point  of  a  lance,  and  in  this  way  pre- 
sented it  to  Queen  Margaret.  The  queen  or- 
dered the  head  to  be  decorated  with  a  paper 


56  KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1461. 


The  head  set  upon  a  pole  at  York. 


crown,  and  then  to  be  carried  to  York,  and  set 
up  at  the  gates  of  that  city  upon  a  tall  pole. 

Thus  was  little  Richard,  the  subject  of  this 
narrative,  left  fatherless.  He  was  at  this  period 
between  eight  and  nine  years  old. 


CHILDHOOD.  57 

Condition  of  young  Richard  in  his  childhood. 


CHAPTER  111. 
THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  RICHARD  III. 

YOUNG  Richard,  as  was  said  at  the  close  of 
the  last  chapter,  was  of  a  very  tender  age 
when  his  father  and  his  brother  Edmund  were 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Wakefield.  He  was  at 
that  time  only  about  eight  years  old.  It  is  very 
evident  too,  from  what  has  been  already  related 
of  the  history  of  his  father  and  mother,  that 
during  the  whole  period  of  his  childhood  and 
youth  he  must  have  passed  through  very  stormy 
times.  It  is  only  a  small  portion  of  the  life  of 
excitement,  conflict,  and  alarm  which  was  led 
by  his  father  that  there  is  space  to  describe  in 
this  volume.  So  unsettled  and  wandering  a 
life  did  his  father  and  mother  lead,  that  it  is  not 
quite  certain  in  which  of  the  various  towns  and 
castles  that  from  time  to  time  they  made  their 
residence,  he  was  born.  It  is  supposed,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  born  in  the  Castle  of  Fother- 
ingay,  in  the  year  1452.  His  father  was  killed 
in  1461,  which  would  make  Richard,  as  has  al- 
ready been  said,  about  eight  or  nine  years  old 
at  that  time. 


58  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Strange  tales  in  respect  to  his  birth. 

There  were  a  great  many  strange  tales  re- 
lated  in  subsequent  years  in  respect  to  Bich- 
ard's  birth.  He  became  such  a  monster,  mor- 
ally, when  he  grewvto  be  a  man,  that  the  people 
believed  that  he  was  born  a  monster  in  person. 
The  story  was  that  he  came  into  the  world  very 
ugly  in  face  and  distorted  in  form,  and  that  his 
hair  and  his  teeth  were  already  grown.  These 
were  considered  as  portents  of  the  ferociousness 
of  temper  and  character  which  he  was  subse- 
quently to  manifest,  and  of  the  unnatural  and 
cruel  crimes  which  he  would  live  to  commit. 
It  is  very  doubtful,  however,  whether  any  of 
these  stories  are  true.  It  is  most  probable  that 
at  his  birth  he  looked  like  any  other  child. 

There  were  a  great  many  periods  of  intense 
excitement  and  terror  in  the  family  history  be- 
fore the  great  final  calamity  at  Wakefield  when 
Richard's  father  and  his  brother  Edmund  were 
killed.  At  these  times  the  sole  reliance  of  the 
prince  in  respect  to  the  care  of  the  younger 
children  was  upon  Lady  Cecily,  their  mother. 
The  older  sons  went  with  their  father  on  the 
various  martial  expeditions  in  which  he  was  en- 
gaged. They  shared  with  him  the  hardships 
and  dangers  of  his  conflicts,  and  the  triumph 
and  exultations  of  his  victories.  The  younger 
children,  however,  remained  in  seclusion  with 


CHILDHOOD.  59 

Dangers  to  which  Richard  was  exposed  in  his  childhood. 

their  mother,  sometimes  in  one  place  and  some- 
times in  another,  wherever  there  was,  for  the 
time  being,  the  greatest  promise  of  security. 

Indeed,  during  the  early  childhood  of  Rich- 
ard, the  changes  and  vicissitudes  through  which 
the  family  passed  were  so  sudden  and  violent 
in  their  character  as  sometimes  to  surpass  the 
most  romantic  tales  of  fiction.  At  one  time, 
while  Lady  Cecily  was  residing  at  the  Castle  of 
Ludlow  with  Eichard  and  some  of  the  younger 
children,  a  party  of  her  husband's  enemies,  the 
Lancastrians,  appeared  suddenly  at  the  gates  of 
the  town,  and,  before  Prince  Eichard's  party 
had  time  to  take  any  efficient  measures  for  de- 
fense, the  town  and  the  castle  were  both  taken. 
The  Lancastrians  had  expected  to  find  Prince 
Eichard  himself  in  the  castle,  but  he  was  not 
there.  They  were  exasperated  by  their  disap- 
pointment, and  in  their  fury  they  proceeded  to 
ransack  all  the  rooms,  and  to  destroy  every 
thing  that  came  into  their  hands.  In  some  of 
the  inner  and  more  private  apartments  they 
found  Lady  Cecily  and  her  children.  They 
immediately  seized  them  all,  made  them  pris- 
oners, and  carried  them  away.  By  King  Hen- 
ry's orders,  they  were  placed  in  close  custody 
in  another  castle  in  the  southern  part  of  En- 
gland, and  all  the  property,  both  of  the  prince 


60  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Kxtraordinary  vicissitudes  in  the  life  of  his  mother. 

and  of  Lady  Cecily,  was  confiscated.  While 
the  mother  and  the  younger  children  were  thus 
closely  shut  up  and  reduced  to  helpless  destitu- 
tion, the  father  and  the  older  sons  were  obliged 
to  fly  from  the  country  to  save  their  lives.  In 
less  than  three  months  after  this  time  these 
same  exiled  and  apparently  ruined  fugitives 
were  marching  triumphantly  through  the  coun- 
try, at  the  head  of  victorious  troops,  carrying 
all  before  them.  Lady  Cecily  and  her  children 
were  set  at  liberty,  and  restored  to  their  prop- 
erty and  their  rights,  while  King  Henry  him- 
self, whose  captives  they  had  been,  was  himself 
made  captive,  and  brought  in  durance  to  Lon- 
don, and  Queen  Margaret  and  her  son  were  in 
their  turn  compelled  to  fly  from  the  realm  to 
save  their  lives. 

This  last  change  in  the  condition  of  public 
affairs  took  place  only  a  short  time  before  the 
great  final  contest  between  Prince  Eichard  of 
York,  King  Richard's  father,  and  the  family  of 
Henry,  when  the  prince  lost  his  life  at  Wake- 
field,  as  described  in  the  last  chapter. 

Of  course,  young  Richard,  being  brought  up 
amid  these  scenes  of  wild  commotion,  and  ac- 
customed from  childhood  to  witness  the  most 
cruel  and  remorseless  conflicts  between  branch- 
es of  the  same  family,  was  trained  by  them  to 


CHILDHOOD.  63 

The  castles  and  palaces  belonging  to  the  house  of  York. 

be  ambitious,  daring,  and  unscrupulous  in  re- 
spect to  the  means  to  be  used  in  circumventing 
or  destroying  an  enemy.  The  seed  thus  sown 
produced  in  subsequent  years  most  dreadful 
fruit,  as  will  be  seen  more  fully  in  the  sequel 
of  his  history. 

There  were  a  great  many  hereditary  castles 
belonging  to  the  family  of  York,  many  of  which 
had  descended  from  father  to  son  for  many  gen- 
erations. Some  of  these  castles  were  strong  for 
tresses,  built  in  wild  and  inaccessible  retreats, 
and  intended  to  be  used  as  places  of  temporary 
refuge,  or  as  the  rallying-points  and  rendez- 
vous of  bodies  of  armed  men.  Others  were 
better  adapted  for  the  purposes  of  a  private  res- 
idence, being  built  with  some  degree  of  refer- 
ence to  the  comfort  of  the  inmates,  and  sur- 
rounded with  gardens  and  grounds,  where  the 
ladies  and  the  children  who  were  left  in  them 
could  find  recreation  and  amusement  adapted 
to  their  age  and  sex. 

It  was  in  such  a  castle  as  this,  near  London, 
that  Lady  Cecily  and  her  younger  children  were 
residing  when  her  husband  went  to  the  north- 
ward to  meet  the  forces  of  the  queen,  as  related 
in  the  last  chapter.  Here  Lady  Cecily  lived  in 
great  state,  for  she  thought  the  time  was  draw- 
ing nigh  when  her  husband  would  be  raised  to 


KING  RICHARD  III. 


Situation  of  Lady  Cecily  at  the  time  of  her  husband's  death. 

the  throne.  Indeed,  she  considered  him  as  al- 
ready the  true  and  rightful  sovereign  of  the 
realm,  and  she  believed  that  the  hour  would 
very  soon  come  when  his  claims  would  be  uni- 
versally acknowledged,  and  when  she  herself 
would  be  Queen  of  England,  and  her  boys  royal 
princes,  and,  as  such,  the  objects  of  universal  at- 
tention and  regard.  She  instilled  these  ideas 
continually  into  the  minds  of  the  children,  and 
bhe  exacted  the  utmost  degree  of  subserviency 
and  submission  toward  herself  and  toward  them 
on  the  part  of  all  around  her. 

While  she  was  thus  situated  in  her  palace 
near  London,  awaiting  every  day  the  arrival  of 
a  messenger  from  the  north  announcing  the 
final  victory  of  her  husband  over  all  his  foes, 
she  was  one  day  thunderstruck,  and  overwhelm- 
ed with  grief  and  despair,  by  the  tidings  that 
her  husband  had  been  defeated,  and  that  he 
himself,  and  the  dear  son  who  had  accompa- 
nied him,  and  was  just  arriving  at  maturity, 
had  been  ignominiously  slain.  The  queen, 
too,  her  most  bitter  foe,  now  exultant  and  vic- 
torious, was  advancing  triumphantly  toward 
London. 

Not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost.  Lady  Cecily 
had  with  her^  at  this  time,  her  two  youngest 
sons,  George  and  Richard.  She  made  immedi- 


CHILDHOOD.  65 


Lady  Cecily  sends  the  children  to  the  Continent. 

ate  arrangements  for  he~  flight.  It  happened 
that  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  was  at  this  time 
the  Lord  High  Admiral,  and  who,  of  course,  had 
command  of  the  seas  between  England  and  the 
Continent,  was  a  relative  and  friend  of  Lady 
Cecily's.  He  was  at  this  time  in  London.  Lady 
Cecily  applied  to  him  to  assist  her  in  making 
her  escape.  He  consented,  and,  with  his  aid, 
she  herself,  with  her  two  children  and  a  small 
number  of  attendants,  escaped  secretly  from 
London,  and  made  their  way  to  the  southern 
coast.  There  Lady  Cecily  put  the  children  and 
the  attendants  on  board  a  vessel,  by  which  they 
were  conveyed  to  the  coast  of  Holland.  On 
landing  there,  they  were  received  by  the  prince 
of  the  country,  who  was  a  friend  of  Lady  Ceci- 
ly, and  to  whose  care  she  commended  them. 
The  prince  received  them  with  great  kindness, 
and  sent  them  to  the  city  of  Utrecht,  where  he 
established  them  safely  in  one  of  his  palaces, 
and  appointed  suitable  tutors  and  governors 
to  superintend  their  education.  Here  it  was 
expected  that  they  would  remain  for  several 
years. 

Their  mother  did  not  go  with  them  to  Hol- 
land.     Her  fears  in  respect  to  remaining  in 
England  were  not  for  herself,  but  only  for  her 
helpless  children.      For  herself,  her  only  im- 
9—5 


66  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Situation  of  Lady  Cecily  and  of  her  oldest  son. 


pulse  was  to  face  and  brave  the  dangers  which 
threatened  her,  and  triumph  "over  them.  So 
she  went  boldly  back  to  London,  to  await  there 
whatever  might  occur. 

Besides,  her  oldest  son  was  still  in  England, 
and  she  could  not  forsake  him.  You  will  rec- 
ollect that,  when  his  father  went  north  to  meet 
the  forces  of  Queen  Margaret,  he  sent  his  oldest 
son,  Edward,  Earl  of  Marche,  to  the  western  part 
of  England,  to  obtain  re-enforcements.  Edward 
was  at  Gloucester  when  the  tidings  came  to  him 
of  his  father's  death.  Gloucester  is  on  the  west- 
ern confines  of  England,  near  the  southeastern 
borders  of  Wales.  Now,  of  course,  since  her 
husband  was  dead,  all  Lady  Cecily's  ambition, 
and  all  her  hopes  of  revenge  were  concentrated 
in  him.  She  wished  to  be  at  hand  to  counsel 
him,  and  to'  co-operate  with  him  by  all  the 
means  in  her  power.  How  she  succeeded  in 
these  plans,  and  how,  by  means  of  them,  he  soon 
became  King  of  England,  will  appear  in  the 
next  chapter. 


A.D.146L]       EDWARD!  V.  67 

Edward  now  becomes  heir  to  the  crown. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ACCESSION  OF  EDWARD  IV.,  RICH- 
ARD'S ELDER  BROTHER. 

RICHAKD'S  brother  Edward,  as  has  already 
been  remarked,  was  at  Gloucester  when 
he  heard  the  news  of  his  father  death.  This 
news,  of  course,  made  a  great  change  in  his 
condition.  To  his  mother,  the  event  was  pure- 
ly and  simply  a  calamity,  and  it  could  awaken 
no  feelings  in  her  heart  but  those  of  sorrow  and 
chagrin.  In  Edward's  mind,  on  the  other  handr 
the  first  emotions  of  astonishment  and  grief 
were  followed  immediately  by  a  burst  of  ex- 
ultation and  pride.  He,  of  course,  as  now  the 
oldest  surviving  son,  succeeded  at  once  to  all 
the  rights  and  titles  which  his  father  had  en- 
joyed, and  among  these,  according  to  the  ideas 
which  his  mother  had  instilled  into  his  mind, 
was  the  right  to  the  crown.  His  heart,  there- 
fore, when  the  first  feeling  of  grief  for  the  loss 
of  his  father  had  subsided,  bounded  with  joy  as 
he  exclaimed, 

"  So  now  Jam  the  King  of  England." 

The  enthusiasm  which  he  felt  extended  itself 
5 


68  KING  RICHARD  III. 

His  energy  and  decision.  He  marches  to  intercept  Margaret. 

at  once  to  all  around  him.  He  immediately 
made  preparations  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of 
his  troops,  and  march  to  the  eastward,  so  as  to 
intercept  Queen  Margaret  on  her  way  to  London, 
for  he  knew  that  she  would,  of  course,  now  press 
forward  toward  the  capital  as  fast  as  possible. 

He  accordingly  set  out  at  once  upon  his 
march,  and,  as  he  went  on,  he  found  that  the 
number  of  his  followers  increased  very  rapidly. 
The  truth  was,  that  the  queen's  party,  by  their 
•murder  of  Richard,  and  of  young  Edmund  his 
son,  had  gone  altogether  too  far  for  the  good  of 
their  own  cause.  The  people,  when  they  heard 
the  tidings,  were  indignant  at  such  cruelty. 
Those  who  belonged  to  the  party  of  the  house 
of  York,  instead  of  being  intimidated  by  the  se- 
verity of  the  measure,  were  exasperated  at  the 
brutality  of  it,  and  they  were  all  eager  to  join 
the  young  duke,  Edward,  and  help  him  to 
avenge  his  father's  and  his  brother's  death. 
Those  who  had  been  before  on  the  side  of  the 
house  of  Lancaster  were  discouraged  and  re- 
pelled, while  those  who  had  been  doubtful  were 
now  ready  to  declare  against  the  queen. 

It  is  in  this  way  that  all  excesses  in  the  hour 
of  victory  defeat  the  very  ends  they  were  in- 
tended to  subserve.  They  weaken  the  perpe- 
trators, and  not  the  subjects  of  them. 


EDWARD  IV. 


Warwick.  Battle  with  the  queen.  Warwick  defeated. 

In  the  mean  time,  while  young  Edward,  at 
the  head  of  his  army,  was  marching  on  from 
the  westward  toward  London  to  intercept  the 
queen,  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  has  already 
been  mentioned  as  a  friend  of  Lady  Cecily,  had 
also  assembled  a  large  force  near  London,  and 
he  was  now  advancing  toward  the  northward. 
The  poor  king  was  with  him.  Nominally,  the 
king  was  in  command  of  the  expedition,  and 
every  thing  was  done  in  his  name,  but  really 
he  was  a  forlorn  and  helpless  prisoner,  forced 
wholly  against  his  will  —  so  far  as  the  feeble  de- 
gree of  intellect  which  remained  to  him  enabled 
him  to  exercise  a  will  —  to  seem  to  head  an  en- 
terprise directed  against  his  own  wife,  and  his 
best  and  strongest  friend. 

The  armies  of  the  queen  and  of  the  Earl  of 
Warwick  advanced  toward  each  other,  until 
they  met  at  last  at  a  short  distance  north  of 
London.  A  desperate  battle  was  fought,  and 
the  queen's  party  were  completely  victorious. 
When  night  came  on,  the  Earl  of  Warwick 
found  that  he  was  beaten  at  every  point,  and 
that  his  troops  had  fled  in  all  directions,  leaving 
thousands  of  the  dead  and  dying  all  along  the 
road  sides.  The  camp  had  been  abandoned,  and 
there  was  no  time  to  save  any  thing  ;  even  the 
poor  king  was  left  behind,  and  the  officers  of 


KING  EICHARD  III. 


Margaret  regains  possession  of  her  husband. 


the  queen's  army  found  him  in  a  tent,  with  only- 
one  attendant.  Of  course,  the  queen  was  over- 
joyed at  recovering  possession  of  her  husband, 
not  merely  on  his  own  account  personally,  but 
also  because  she  could  now  act  again  directly 
in  his  name.  So  she  prepared  a  proclamation, 
by  which  the  king  revoked  all  that  he  had 
done  while  in  the  hands  of  Warwick,  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  been  in  durance,  and  had 
not  acted  of  his  own  free  will,  and  also  declared 
Edward  a  traitor,  and  offered  a  large  reward  for 
his  apprehension. 

The  queen  was  now  once  more  filled  with 
exultation  and  joy.  Her  joy  would  have  been 
complete  were  it  not  that  Edward  himself  was 
still  to  be  met,  for  he  was  all  this  time  advanc- 
ing from  the  westward ;  she,  however,  thought 
that  there  was  not  much  to  be  feared  from  such 
a  boy,  Edward  being  at  this  time  only  about 
nineteen  years  of  age.  So  the  queen  moved  on 
toward  London,  flushed  with  the  victory,  and 
exasperated  with  the  opposition  which  she  had 
met  with.  Her  soldiers  were  under  very  little 
control,  and  they  committed  great  excesses. 
They  ravaged  the  country,  and  plundered  with- 
out mercy  all  those  whom  they  considered  as 
belonging  to  the  opposite  party ;  they  commit- 
ted, too,  many  atrocious  acts  of  cruelty.  It  is 


A.D.146L]       EDWARD  IV.  71 

Excesses  committed  by  the  queen's  troops. 

always  thus  in  civil  war.  In  foreign  wars,  arm- 
ies are  much  more  easily  kept  under  control. 
Troops  march  through  a  foreign  territory,  feel- 
ing no  personal  spite  or  hatred  against  the  in- 
habitants of  it,  for  they  think  it  is  a  matter  of 
course  that  the  people  should  defend  their  coun- 
try and  resist  invaders.  But  in  a  civil  war,  the 
men  of  each  party  feel  a  special  personal  hate 
against  every  individual  that  does  not  belong 
to  their  side,  and  in  periods  of  actual  conflict 
this  hatred  becomes  a  rage  that  is  perfectly  un- 
controllable. 

Accordingly,  as  the  queen  and  her  troops  ad- 
vanced, they  robbed  and  murdered  all  who  came 
in  their  way,  and  they  filled  the  whole  country 
with  terror.  They  even  seized  and  plundered 
a  convent,  which  was  a  species  of  sacrilege. 
This  greatly  increased  the  general  alarm.  "The 
wretches !"  exclaimed  the  people,  when  they 
heard  the  tidings,  "  nothing  is  sacred  in  their 
eyes."  The  people  of  London  were  particu- 
larly alarmed.  They  thought  there  was  danger 
that  the  city  itself  would  be  given  up  to  plun- 
der if  the  queen's  troops  gained  admission.  So 
they  all  turned  against  her.  She  sent  one  day 
into  the  town  for  a  supply  of  provisions,  and 
the  authorities,  perhaps  thinking  themselves 
bound  by  their  official  duty  to  obey  orders  of 


72  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Edward  advances.  He  enters  London.  His  welcome. 

this  kind  coming  in  the  king's  name,  loaded  up 
some  wagons  and  sent  them  forth,  but  the  peo- 
ple raised  a  mob,  and  stopped  the  wagons  at 
the  gates,  refusing  to  let  them  go  on. 

In  the  mean  time,  Edward,  growing  every 
hour  stronger  as  he  advanced,  came  rapidly  on 
toward  London.  He  was  joined  at  length  by 
the  Earl  of  Warwick  and  the  remnant  of  the 
force  which  remained  to  the  earl  after  the  bat- 
tle which  he  had  fought  with  the  queen.  The 
queen,  now  finding  that  Edward's  strength  was 
becoming  formidable,  did  not  dare  to  meet  him ; 
so  she  retreated  toward  the  north  again.  Ed- 
ward, instead  of  pursuing  her,  advanced  direct- 
ly toward  London.  The  people  threw  open  the 
gates  to  him,  and  welcomed  him  as  their  deliv- 
erer. They  thronged  the  streets  to  look  upon 
him  as  he  passed,  and  made  the  air  ring  with 
their  loud  and  long  acclamations. 

There  was,  indeed,  every  thing  in  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  to  awaken  excitement  and 
emotion.  Here  was  a  boy  not  yet  out  of  his 
teens,  extremely  handsome  in  appearance  and 
agreeable  in  manners,  who  had  taken  the  field 
in  command  of  a  very  large  force  to  avenge  the 
cruel  death  of  his  father  and  brother,  and  was 
now  coming  Boldly,  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
into  the  very  capital  of  the  king  and  queen  un- 


A.D.1461.]       EDWARD!  V.  73 

Excitement  in  London.  Measures  taken  by  Edward. 

der  whose  authority  his  father  and  brother  had 
been  killed. 

The  most  extraordinary  circumstance  con- 
nected with  these  proceedings  was,  that  during 
all  this  time  Henry  was  still  acknowledged  by 
every  one  as  the  actual  king.  Edward  and  his 
friends  maintained,  indeed,  that  he,  Edward, 
was  entitled  to  reign,  but  no  one  pretended  that 
any  thing  had  yet  been  done  which  could  have 
the  legal  effect  of  putting  him  upon  the  throne. 
There  was,  however,  now  a  general  expectation 
that  the  time  for  the  formal  deposition  of  Hen- 
ry was  near,  and  in  and  around  London  all  was 
excitement  and  confusion.  The  people  from 
the  surrounding  towns  flocked  every  day  into 
the  city  to  see  what  they  could  see,  and  to  hear 
what  they  could  hear.  They  thronged  the 
streets  whenever  Edward  appeared  in  public, 
eager  to  obtain  a  glimpse  of  him. 

At  length,  a  few  days  after  Edward  entered 
the  city,  his  counselors  and  friends  deemed  that 
the  time  had  come  for  action.  Accordingly, 
they  made  arrangements  for  a  grand  review  in 
a  large  open  field.  Their  design  was  by  this 
review  to  call  together  a  great  concourse  of 
spectators.  A  vast  assembly  convened  accord- 
ing to  their  expectations.  In  the  midst  of  the 
ceremonies,  two  noblemen  appeared  before  the 


74          KING  KICHARD  III.  [A.D.1461. 

Voice  of  the  people.  They  declare  in  favor  of  Edward. 

multitude  to  make  addresses  to  them.  One  of 
them  made  a  speech  in  respect  to  Henry,  de- 
nouncing the  crimes,  and  the  acts  of  treachery 
and  of  oppression  which  his  government  had 
committed.  He  dilated  long  on  the  feebleness 
and  incapacity  of  the  king,  and  his  total  inabil- 
ity to  exercise  any  control  in  the  management 
of  public  affairs.  After  he  had  finished,  he 
called  out  to  the  people  in  a  loud  voice  to  de- 
clare whether  they  would  submit  any  longer  to 
have  such  a  man  for  king. 

The  people  answered  "NAY,  NAY,  NAY," 
with  loud  and  long  acclamations. 

Then  the  other  speaker  made  an  address  in 
favor  of  Edward.  He  explained  at  length  the 
nature  of  his  title  to  the  crown,  showing  it  to 
be  altogether  superior  in  point  of  right  to  that 
of  Henry.  He  also  spoke  long  and  eloquently 
in  praise  of  Edward's  personal  qualifications, 
describing  his  courage,  his  activity,  and  energy, 
and  the  various  graces  and  accomplishments  for 
which  he  was  distinguished,  in  the  most  glow- 
ing terms.  He  ended  by  demanding  of  the  peo- 
ple whether  they  would  have  Edward  for  king. 

The  people  answered  "  YEA,  YEA,  YEA  ; 
KING  EDWARD  FOREVER!  KING  EDWARD  FOR- 
EVER!" with  acclamations  as  long  and  loud  as 
before. 


EDWARD  IT.  75 

Edward  is  formally  enthroned.  Various  ceremc-aies. 

Of  course  there  could  be  no  legal  validity  in 
.such  proceedings  as  these,  for,  even  if  England 
had  at  that  time  been  an  elective  monarchy,  the 
acclamations  of  an  accidental  assembly  drawn 
together  to  witness  a  review  could  on  no  ac- 
count have  been  deemed  a  valid  vote.  This 
ceremony  was  only  meant  as  a  very  public  an- 
nouncement of  the  intention  of  Edward  imme- 
diately to  assume  the  throne. 

The  next  day,  accordingly,  a  grand  council 
was  held  of  all  the  great  barons,  and  nobles, 
and  officers  of  state.  By  this  council  a  decree 
'  vas  passed  that  King  Henry,  by  his  late  pro- 
ceedings, had  forfeited  the  crown,  and  Edward 
was  solemnly  declared  king  in  his  stead.  Im- 
mediately afterward,  Edward  rode  at  the  head 
of  a  royal  procession,  which  was  arranged  for 
the  purpose,  to  Westminster,  and  there,  in  the  • 
presence  of  a  vast  assembly,  he  took  his  seat 
upon  the  throne.  While  there  seated,  he  made 
a  speech  to  the  audience,  in  which  he  explained 
the  nature  of  his  hereditary  rights,  and  declared 
his  intention  to  maintain  his  rights  thenceforth 
in  the  most  determined  manner. 

The  king  now  proceeded  to  Westminster  Ab- 
bey, where  he  performed  the  same  ceremonies 
a  second  time.  He  was  also  publicly  proclaimed 
king  on  the  same  day  in  various  parts  of  London. 


76  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Edward  marches  to  the  northward.  A  battle. 

Edward  was  now  full  of  ardor  and  enthusi- 
asm, and  his  first  impulse  was  to  set  off,  at  the 
head  of  his  army,  toward  the  north,  in  pursuit 
of  the  queen  and  the  old  king.  The  king  and 
queen  had  gone  to  York.  The  queen  had  not 
only  the  king  under  her  care,  but  also  her  son, 
the  little  Prince  of  Wales,  who  was  now  about 
eight  years  old.  This  young  prince  was  the 
heir  to  the  crown  on  the  Lancastrian  side,  and 
Edward  was,  of  course,  very  desirous  of  getting 
Mm,  as  well  as  the  king  and  queen,  into  his 
hands ;  so  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
troops,  and  began  to  move  forward  as  fast  as  he 
could  go. .  The  body  of  troops  under  his  com- 
mand consisted  of  fifty  thousand  men.  In  the 
queen's  army,  which  was  encamped  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  York,  there  were  about  sixty  thou- 
sand. 

Both  parties  were  extremely  exasperated 
against  each  other,  and  were  eager  for  the  fight. 
Edward  gave  orders  to  his  troops  to  grant  no 
quarter,  but,  in  the  event  of  victory,  to  massa- 
cre without  mercy  every  man  that  they  could 
bring  within  their  reach.  The  armies  came  to- 
gether at  a  place  called  Towton.  The  combat 
was  begun  in  the  midst  of  a  snow-storm.  The 
armies  foughf  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ning  till  three  in  the  afternoon,  and  by  that 


EDWARD  IV.  77 

•Edward  enters  York  in  triumph.  He  inters  his  father's  body. 

time  the  queen's  troops  were  every  where  driv- 
en from  the  field.  Edward's  men  pursued  them 
along  the  roads,  slaughtering  them  without  mer- 
cy as  fast  as  they  could  overtake  them,  until  at 
length  nearly  forty  thousand  men  were  left  dead 
upon  the  ground. 

The  queen  fled  toward  the  north,  taking  with 
her  her  husband  and  child.  Edward  entered 
York  in  triumph.  At  the  gates  he  found  the 
head  of  his  father  and  that 'of  his  brother  still 
remaining  upon  the  poles  where  the  queen  had 
put  them.  He  took  them  reverently  down,  and 
then  put  other  heads  in  their  places,  which  he 
•cut  off  for  the  purpose  from  some  of  his  prison- 
ers. He  was  in  such  a  state  of  fury,  that  I  sup- 
pose, if  he  could  have  caught  the  king  and  queen, 
he  would  have  cut  off  their  heads,  and  put  them 
on  the  poles  in  the  place  of  his  father's  and  his 
brother's ;  but  he  could  not  catch  them.  They 
fled  to  the  north,  toward  the  frontiers  of  Scot- 
land, and  so  escaped  from  his  hands. 

Edward  determined  not  to  pursue  the  fugi- 
tives any  farther  at  that  time,  as  there  were 
many  important  affairs  to  be  attended  to  in 
London,  and  so  he  concluded  to  be  satisfied  at 
present  with  the  victory  which  he  had  obtain- 
ed, and  with  the  dispersion  of  his  enemies,  and 
to  return  to  the  capital.  He  first,  however, 


78  KING  KICHAUD  III. 

He  returns  to  London.  Grief  of  hia  mother. 

gathered  together  the  remains  of  his  father  and 
brother,  and  caused  them  to  be  buried  with  sol- 
emn funeral  ceremonies  in  one  of  his  castles 
near  York.  This  was,  however,  only  a  tempo- 
rary arrangement,  for,  as  soon  as  his  affairs  were 
fully  settled,  the  remains  were  disinterred,  and 
conveyed,  with  great  funeral  pomp  and  parade, 
to  their  final  resting-place  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  kingdom. 

As  soon  as  Edward  reached  London,  one  of 
the  first  things  that  he  did  was  to  send  for  his 
two  brothers,  Greorge  and  Kichard,  who,  as  will 
be  recollected,  had  been  removed  by  their  moth- 
er to  Holland,  and  were  now  in  Utrecht  pursu- 
ing their  education.  These  two  boys  were  all  the 
brothers  of  Edward  that  remained  now  alive. 
They  came  back  to  London.  Their  widowed 
-mother's  heart  was  filled  with  a  melancholy 
sort  of  joy  in  seeing  her  children  once  more  to- 
gether, safe  in  their  native  land ;  but  her  spirit, 
after  reviving  for  a  moment,  sank  again,  over- 
whelmed with  the  bitter  and  irreparable  loss 
which  she  had  sustained  in  the  death  of  her 
husband.  His  death  was,  of  course,  a  fatal  blow 
to  all  those  ambitious  plans  and  aspirations 
which  she  had  cherished  for  herself.  Though 
the  mother  of  a  king,  she  could  now  never  be- 
come herself  a  queen ;  and,  disappointed  and  un- 


EDWARD  IV.  79 


Situation  of  George  and  Richard.  Richard' s  person. 

happy,  she  retired  to  one  of  the  family  castles 
in  the  neighborhood  of  London,  and  lived  there 
comparatively  alone  and  in  great  seclusion. 

The  boys,  on  the  other  hand,  were  brought 
forward  very  conspicuously  into  public  life.  In 
the  autumn  of  the  same  year  in  which  Edward 
took  possession  of  the  crown,  they  were  made 
royal  dukes,  with  great  parade  and  ceremony, 
and  were  endowed  with  immense  estates  to  en- 
able them  to  support  the  dignity  of  their  rank 
and  position.  Greorge  was  made  Duke  of  Clar- 
ence ;  Eichard,  Duke  of  Gloucester ;  and  from 
this  time  the  two  boys  were  almost  always  des- 
ignated by  these  names. 

Suitable  persons,  too,  were  appointed  to  take 
charge  of  the  boys,  for  the  purpose  of  conduct- 
ing their  education,  and  also  to  manage  their 
estates  until  they  should  become  of  age. 

There  have  been  a  great  many  disputes  in  re- 
spect to  Eichard's  appearance  and  character  at 
this  time.  For  a  long  period  after  his  death, 
people  generally  believed  that  he  was,  from  his 
very  childhood,  an  ugly  little  monster,  that  no- 
body could  look  upon  without  fear;  and,  in 
fact,  he  was  very  repulsive  in  his  personal  ap- 
pearance when  he  grew  up,  but  at  this  time  of 
his  life  the  historians  and  biographers  who  saw 
and  knew  him  say  that  he  was  quite  a  pretty 


80  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Description  of  the  armor  worn  in  those  days. 

boy,  though  puny  and  weak.  His  face  was 
handsome  enough,  though  his  form  was  frail, 
and  not  perfectly  symmetrical.  Those  who  had 
charge  of  him  tried  to  strengthen  his  constitu- 
tion by  training  him  to  the  martial  exercises 
and  usages  which  were  practiced  in  those  days, 
and  especially  by  accustoming  him  to  wear  the 
ponderous  armor  which  was  then  in  use. 

This  armor  was  made  of  iron  or  steel.  It 
consisted  of  a  great  number  of  separate  pieces, 
which,  when  they  were  all  put  on,  incased  al- 
most the  whole  body,  so  as  to  defend  it  against 
blows  coming  from  any  quarter.  First,  there 
was  the  helmet,  or  cap  of  steel,  with  large  oval 
pieces  coming  down  to  protect  the  ears.  Next 
came  the  gorget,  as  it  was  called,  which  was  a 
sort  of  collar  to  cover  the  neck.  Then  there 
were  elbow  pieces  to  guard  the  elbows,  and 
shoulder-plates  for  the  shoulders,  and  a  breast- 
plate or  buckler  for  the  front,  and  greaves  for 
the  legs  and  thighs.  These  things  were  neces- 
sary in  those  days,  or  at  least  they  were  advan- 
tageous, for  they  afforded  pretty  effectual  pro- 
tection against  all  the  ordinary  weapons  which 
were  then  in  use.  But  they  made  the  warriors 
themselves  so  heavy  and  unwieldy  as  very 
greatly  to  interfere  with  the  freedom  of  their 
movements  when  engaged  in  battle.  There 


A.D.1461.]       EDWARD!  V.  81 

Necessity  of  being  trained  to  use  this  armor. 

was,  indeed,  a  certain  advantage  in  this  weight, 
as  it  made  the  shock  with  which  the  knight  on 
horseback  encountered  his  enemy  in  the  charge 
so  much  the  more  heavy  and  overpowering; 
but  if  he  were  by  any  accident  to  lose  his  seat 
and  fall  to  the  ground,  he  was  generally  so  en- 
cumbered by  his  armor  that  he  could  only  par- 
tially raise  himself  therefrom.  He  was  thus 
compelled  to  lie  almost  helpless  until  his  ene- 
my came  to  kill  him,  or  his  squire  or  some 
other  friend  came  to  help  him  up.* 

Of  course,  to  be  able  to  manage  one's  self  at 
all  in  these  habiliments  of  iron  and  steel,  there 
was  required  not  only  native  strength  of  con- 
stitution, but  long  and  careful  training,  and  it 
was  a  very  important  part  of  the  education  of 
young  men  of  rank  in  Richard's  days  to  famil- 
iarize them  with  the  use  of  this  armor,  and  in- 
ure them  to  the  weight  of  it.  Suits  of  it  were 
made  for  boys,  the  size  and  weight  of  each  suit 
being  fitted  to  the  form  and  strength  of  the 
wearer.  Many  of  these  suits  of  boys'  armor 
are  still  preserved  in  England.  There  are  sev- 
eral specimens  to  be  seen  in  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don. They  are  in  the  apartment  called  the 
Horse  Armory,  which  is  a  vast  hall  with  effi- 
gies of  horses,  and  of  men  mounted  upon  them, 

*  See  engraving  on  page  1 48. 
9—6 


82  KING  EICHARD  III. 

The  armor  costly.  Substitutes  for  it.  Exercises. 

all  completely  armed  with,  the  veritable  suits 
of  steel  which  the  men  and  the  horses  that  they 
represent  actually  wore  when  they  were  alive. 
The  horses  are  arranged  along  the  sides  of  the 
room  in  regular  order  from  the  earliest  ages 
down  to  the  time  when  steel  armor  of  this  kind 
ceased  to  be  worn. 

These  suits  of  armor  were  very  costly,  and 
the  boys  for  whom  they  were  made  were,  of 
course,  filled  with  feelings  of  exultation  and 
pride  when  they  put  them  on ;  and,  heavy  and 
uncomfortable  as  such  clothing  must  have  been, 
they  were  willing  to  wear  it,  and  to  practice  the 
required  exercises  in  it.  When  actually  made 
of  steel,  the  armor  was  very  expensive,  and  such 
could  only  be  afforded  for  young  princes  and 
nobles  of  very  high  rank ;  for  other  young 
men,  various  substitutes  were  provided ;  but  all 
were  trained,  either  in  the  use  of  actual  armor, 
or  of  substitutes,  to  perform  a  great  number 
and  variety  of  exercises.  They  were  taught, 
when  they  were  old  enough,  to  spring  upon  a 
horse  with  as  much  armor  upon  them  and  in 
their  hands  as  possible ;  to  run  races ;  to  see  how 
long  they  could  continue  to  strike  heavy  blows 
in  quick  succession  with  a  battle-axe  or  club, 
as  if  they  were  beating  an  enemy  lying  upon 
the  ground,  and  trying  to  break  his  armor  to 


EDWARD  IV.  85 

Feats  to  be  performed.  Account  of  the  quintaine. 

pieces ;  to  dance  and  throw  summersets ;  to 
mount  upon  a  horse  behind  another  person  by 
leaping  from  the  ground,  and  assisting  them- 
selves only  by  one  hand,  and  other  similar 
things.  One  fea.t  which  they  practiced  was  to 
climb  up  between  two  partition  walls  built  pret- 
ty near  together,  by  bracing  their  back  against 
one  wall,  and  working  with  their  knees  and 
hands  against  the  other.  Another  feat  was  to 
climb  up  a  ladder  on  the  under  side  by  means 
of  the  hands  alone. 

Another  famous  exercise,  or  perhaps  rather 
game,  was  performed  with  what  was  called  the 
quintaine.  The  quintaine  consisted  of  a  stout 
post  set  in  the  ground,  and  rising  about  ten  or 
twelve  feet  above  the  surface.  Across  the  top 
was  a  strong  bar,  which  turned  on  a  pivot  made 
in  the  top  of  the  post,  so  that  it  would  go  round 
and  round.  To  one  end  of  this  cross-bar  there 
was  fixed  a  square  board  for  a  target ;  to  the 
other  end  was  hung  a  heavy  club.  The  cross- 
bar was  so  poised  upon  the  central  pivot  that 
it  would  move  very  easily.  In  playing  the 
game,  the  competitors,  mounted  on  horseback, 
were  to  ride,  one  after  another,  under  the  tar- 
get-end of  the  cross-bar,  and  hurl  their  spears 
at  it  with  all  their  force.  The  blow  from  the 
spear  would  knock  the  target-end  of  the  cross- 


86  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Other  exercises  and  sports.  Playing  ball. 

bar  away,  and  so  bring  round  the  other  end, 
with  its  heavy  club,  to  strike  a  blow  on  the 
horseman's  head  if  he  did  not  get  instantly  out 
of  the  way.  It  was  as  if  he  were  to  strike  one 
enemy  in  front  in  battle,  while  there  was  an- 
other enemy  ready  on  the  instant  to  strike  him 
from  behind. 

There  is  one  of  these  ancient  quintaines  now 
standing  on  the  green  in  the  village  of  Off- 
ham,  in  Kent. 

Such  exercises  as  these  were,  of  course,  only 
fitted  for  men,  or  at  least  for  boys  who  had 
nearly  attained  to  their  full  size  and  strength. 
There  were  other  games  and  exercises  intended 
for  smaller  boys.  There  are  many  rude  pic- 
tures in  ancient  books  illustrating  these  old 
games.  In  one  they  are  playing  ball ;  in  an- 
other they  are  playing  shuttle-cock.  The  bat- 
tle-doors that  they  use  are  very  rude. 


PLATING    BALL. 


These  pictures  show  how  ancient  these  com- 
mon games  are.     In  another  picture  the  boys 


EDWARD  IV.  87 

Jumping  through  a  hoop.  The  two  brothers  companion* 


BATTLE-DOOR  AND   SHUTTLE-COCK. 


are  playing  with  a  hoop.  Two  of  them  are 
holding  the  hoop  up  between  them,  and  the 
third  is  preparing  to  jump  through  it,  head. 
foremost.  His  plan  is  to  come  down  on  the 
other  side  upon  his  hands,  and  so  turn  a  sum- 
merset, and  come  up  on  his  feet  beyond. 

In  these  exercises  and  amusements,  and,  in- 
deed, in  all  his  occupations,  Richard  had  his 
brother  George,  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  for  his 
playmate  and  companion.  George  was  not 
only  older  than  Richard,  but  he  was  also  much 
more  healthy  and  athletic;  and  some  persons 
have  thought  that  Richard  injured  himself,  and 
perhaps,  in  some  degree,  increased  the  deformity 
which  he  seems  to  have  suffered  from  in  later 
years,  or  perhaps  brought  it  on  entirely,  by 


88  KING  RICHARD  III.  [AD.  1461. 


Richard's  intellectual  education. 


overloading  himself,  in  his  attempts  to  keep 
pace  with  his  brother  in  these  exercises,  with 
burdens  of  armor,  or  by  straining  himself  in 
athletic  exertions  which  were  beyond  his  pow- 
ers. 

The  intellectual  education  of  the  boys  was 
not  entirely  neglected.  They  learned  to  read 
and  write,  though  they  could  not  write  much, 
or  very  well.  Their  names  are  still  found,  as 
they  signed  them  to  ancient  documents,  several 
of  which  remain  to  the  present  day.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  fac-simile  of  Richard's  signature, 
copied  exactly  from  one  of  those  documents. 


BIOHAEI)  S   8IGNATU«B. 


Richard  continued  in  this  state  of  pupilage 
in  some  of  the  castles  belonging  to  the  family 
from  the  time  that  his  brother  began  to  reign 
until  he  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age.  Ed- 
ward, the  king,  was  then  twenty-four,  and  Clar- 
ence about  seventeen. 


A.D.1461.]         WARWICK.  89 

Situation  of  Richard  under  the  reign  of  his  brother. 


CHAPTER  V. 
WARWICK,  THE  KING-MAKER. 

RICHARD'S  brother,  Edward  the  Fourth, 
began  to  reign  when  Eichard  was  about 
eight  or  nine  years  of  age.  His  reign  contin- 
ued— with  a  brief  interruption,  which  will  be 
hereafter  explained — for  twenty  years ;  so  that, 
for  a  very  important  period  of  his  life,  after 
he  arrived  at  some  degree  of  maturity,  name- 
ly, from  the  time  that  he  was  fourteen  to  the 
time  that  he  was  thirty,  Richard  was  one  of  his 
brother's  subjects.  He  was  a  prince,  it  is  true, 
and  a  prince  of  the  very  highest  rank — the 
next  person  but  one,  in  fact,  in  the  line  of  suc- 
cession to  the  crown.  His  brother  George,  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  of  course,  being  older  than 
he,  came  before  him ;  but  both  the  young  men, 
though  princes,  were  subjects.  They  were  un- 
der their  brother  Edward's  authority,  and  bound 
to  serve  and  obey  him  as  their  rightful  sover- 
eign ;  next  to  him,  however,  they  were  the 
highest  personages  in  the  realm.  George  was, 
from  this  time,  generally  called  Clarence,  and 
Richard,  Gloucester. 


90  KING  HICHARD  III. 

Strange  vicissitudes  in  the  life  of  Margaret. 

The  reader  may  perhaps  feel  some  interest 
and  curiosity  in  learning  what  became  of  Queen 
Margaret  and  old  King  Henry  after  they  were 
driven  out  of  the  country  toward  the  north,  at 
the  time  of  Edward's  accession.  Their  pros- 
pects seemed,  at  the  time,  to  be  hopelessly  ruin- 
ed, but  their  case  was  destined  to  furnish  an- 
other very  striking  instance  of  the  extraordi- 
nary reverses  of  fortune  which  marked  the  his- 
tory of  nearly  all  the  great  families  during  the 
whole  course  of  this  York  and  Lancaster  quar- 
rel. In  about  ten  years  from  the  time  when 
Henry  and  Margaret  were  driven  away,  appar- 
ently into  hopeless  exile,  they  came  back  in  tri- 
umph, and  were  restored  to  power,  and  Edward 
himself,  in  his  turn,  was  ignominiously  expelled 
from  the  kingdom.  The  narrative  of  the  cir- 
cumstances through  which  these  events  were 
brought  about  forms  quite  a  romantic  story. 

In  order,  however,  that  this  story  may  be 
more  clearly  understood,  I  will  first  enumerate 
the  principal  personages  that  take  a  part  in  it, 
and  briefly  remind  the  reader  of  the  position 
which  they  respectively  occupied,  and  the  rela- 
tions which  they  sustained  to  each  other. 

First,  there  is  the  family  of  King  Henry,  con- 
sisting of  himself  and  his  wife,  Queen  Margaret, 
and  his  little  son  Edward,  who  had  received  the 


WARWICK.  91 

Representatives  of  the  house  of  York.  Margaret. 

title  of  Prince  of  Wales.  This  boy  was  about 
eight  years  old  at  the  time  his  father  and  moth- 
er were  driven  away.  We  left  them,  in  the  last 
chapter,  flying  toward  the  frontiers  of  Scotland 
to  save  their  lives,  leaving  to  Edward  and  his 
troops  the  full  possession  of  the  kingdom. 

Henry  arid  his  little  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
of  course  represent  the  house  of  Lancaster  in 
the  dispute  for  the  succession. 

The  house  of  York  was  represented  by  Ed- 
ward, whose  title,  as  king,  was  Edward  the 
Fourth,  and  his  two  brothers,  George  and  Eich- 
-ard,  or,  as  they  were  now  generally  called,  Clar- 
ence and  Gloucester.  In  case  Edward  should 
be  married  and  have  a  son,  his  son  would  suc- 
ceed him,  and  George  and  Eichard  would  be  ex- 
cluded ;  if,  however,  he  should  die  without  is- 
sue, then  George  would  become  king ;  and  if 
George  should  die  without  issue,  and  Eichard 
should  survive  him,  then  Eichard  would  suc- 
ceed. Thus,  as  matters  now  stood,  George  and 
Eichard  were  presumptive  heirs  to  the  crown, 
and  it  Was  natural  that  they  should  wish  that 
their  brother  Edward  should  never  be  married. 

Besides  these  two  brothers,  who  were  the 
only  ones  of  all  his  brothers  that  were  now 
living,  Edward  had  a  sister  named  Margaret. 
Margaret  was  four  years  younger  than  Edward 


92  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Value  of  a  marriageable  young  lady.  Warwick. 

the  king,  and  about  six  years  older  than  Rich- 
ard. She  was  now  about  seventeen.  A  young 
lady  of  that  age  in  the  family  of  a  king  in 
those  days  was  quite  a  treasure,  as  the  king 
was  enabled  to  promote  his  political  schemes 
sometimes  very  effectually  by  bestowing  her 
in  marriage  upon  this  great  prince  or  that,  as 
would  best  further  the  interests  which  he  had 
in  view  in  foreign  courts. 

This  young  lady,  Edward's  sister,  being  of 
the  same  name — Margaret — with  the  queen  of 
old  King  Henry,  was  distinguished  from  her  by 
being  called  Margaret  of  York,  as  she  belonged 
to  the  York  family.  The  queen  was  generally 
known  as  Margaret  of  Anjou.  Anjou  was  the 
place  of  her  nativity. 

The  next  great  personage  to  be  named  is  the 
Earl  of  Warwick.  He  was  the  man,  as  you 
will  doubtless  recollect,  who  was  in  command 
of  the  sea  between  England  and  the  Continent 
at  the  time  when  Lady  Cecily  wished  to  send 
her  children,  George  and  Richard,  away  after 
their  father's  death,  and  who  assisted  in  arrang- 
ing their  flight.  He  was  a  man  of  great  power 
and  influence,  and  of  such  an  age  and  charac- 
ter that  he  exerted  a  vast  ascendency  over  all 
within  his  influence.  Without  him,  Edward 
never  would"  have  conquered  the  Lancaster 


WAKWICK.  93 

Warwick  becomes  Ldward's  prime  minister. 

party,  and  he  knew  very  well  that  if  Warwick, 
and  all  those  whom  Warwick  would  carry  with 
him,  were  to  desert  him,  he  should  not  be  able 
to  retain  his  kingdom.  Indeed,  Warwick  re- 
ceived the  surname  of  King-maker  from  the 
fact  that,  in  repeated  instances  during  this  quar- 
rel, he  put  down  one  dynasty  and  raised  up  the 
other,  just  as  he  pleased.  He  belonged  to  a 
great  and  powerful  family  named  Neville.  As 
soon  as  Edward  was  established  on  his  throne, 
Warwick,  almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  became 
prime  minister.  One  of  his  brothers  was  made 
chancellor,  and  a  great  number  of  other  posts 
of  distinction  and  honor  were  distributed  among 
the  members  of  the  Neville  family.  Indeed,  al- 
though Edward  was  nominally  king,  it  might 
have  been  considered  in  some  degree  a  question 
whether  it  was  the  house  of  York  or  the  house 
of  Neville  that  actually  reigned  in  England. 

The  Earl  of  Warwick  had  two  daughters. 
Their  names  were  Isabella  and  Anne.  These 
two  young  ladies  the  earl  reckoned,  as  Ed- 
ward did  his  sister  Margaret,  among  the  most 
important  of  his  political  resources.  By  mar- 
»  rying  them  to  persons  of  very  high  position, 
he  could  strengthen  his  alliances  and  increase 
his  power.  There  was  even  a  possibility,  he 
thought,  of  marrying  one  of  them  to  the  King 


94          KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1461. 

The  three  great  parties.  The  fortunes  of  Margaret  of  Anjon. 

of  England,  or  to  a  prince  who  would  become 
king. 

Thus  we  have  for  the  three  great  parties  to 
the  transactions  now  to  be  described,  first,  the 
representatives  of  the  house  of  Lancaster,  the 
feeble  Henry,  the  energetic  and  strong-minded 
Margaret  of  Anjou,  and  their  little  son,  the 
Prince  of  Wales;  secondly,  the  representatives 
of  the  house  of  York,  King  Edward  the  Fourth, 
the  two  young  men  his  brothers,  George,  Duke 
of  Clarence,  and  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
and  his  sister  ^Margaret ;  and,  thirdly,  between 
these  two  parties,  as  it  were,  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick and  his  two  daughters,  Isabella  and  Anne, 
standing  at  the  head  of  a  vast  family  influence, 
which  ramified  to  every  part  of  the  kingdom, 
and  was  powerful  enough  to  give  the  •ascend- 
ency to  either  side,  in  favor  of  which  they  might 
declare. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  follow  Queen  Mar- 
garet in  her  flight  toward  the  north  with  her 
husband  and  her  son,  at  the  time  when  Edward 
the  Fourth  overcame  her  armies  and  ascended 
the  throne.  She  pressed  on  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible, taking  the  king  and  the  little  prince  with 
her,  and  accompanied  and  assisted  in  her  flight 
by  a  few  'attendants,  till  she  had  crossed  the 
frontier  and  was  safe  in  Scotland.  The  Scots 


AJ).  14(52.]          WARWICK.  95 

She  escapes  to  France.  A  new  expedition  planned. 

espoused  her  cause,  and  assisted  her  to  raise 
fresh  troops,  with  whicli  she  made  one  or  two 
short  incursions  into  England ;  but  she  soon 
found  that  she  could  do  nothing  effectual  in 
this  way,  and  so,  after  wasting  some  time  iu. 
fruitless  attempts,  she  left  Scotland  with  the 
king  and  the  prince,  and  went  to  France. 

Here  she  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
King  of  France,  and  with  other  princes  and  po- 
tentates on  the  Continent,  with  a  view  of  rais- 
ing men  and  money  for  a  new  invasion  of  En- 
gland. At  first  these  powers  declined  to  assist 
her.  They  said  that  their  treasuries  were  ex- 
hausted, and  that  they  had  no  men.  At  last, 
however,  Margaret  promised  to  the  King  of 
France  that  if  he  would  furnish  her  with  a  fleet 
and  an  army,  by  which  she  could  recover  the 
kingdom  of  her  husband,  she  would  cede  to  him 
the  town  of  Calais,  which,  though  situated  on 
the  coast  of  France,  was  at  that  time  an  English 
possession.  This  was  a  very  tempting  offer, 
for  Calais  was  a  fortress  of  the  first  class,  and  a 
military  post  either  for  England  or  France  of  a 
very  important  character. 

The  king  consented  to  this  proposal.  He 
equipped  a  fleet  and  raised  an  army,  and  Mar- 
garet set  sail  for  England,  taking  the  king  and 
the  prince  with  her.  Her  plan  was  to  land  in 


96          KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1462. 

Margaret  Is  defeated  and  compelled  to  fij. 

the  northern  part  of  the  island,  near  the  fron- 
tiers of  Scotland,  where  she  expected  to  find  the 
country  more  friendly  to  the  Lancastrian  line 
than  the  people  were  toward  the  south.  As 
soon  as  she  landed  she  was  joined  by  many  of 
the  people,  and  she  succeeded  in  capturing  some 
castles  and  small  towns.  But  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick, who  was,  as  has  been  already  said,  the 
prime  minister  under  Edward,  immediately 
raised  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  and 
marched  to  the  northward  to  meet  her.  Mar- 
garet's French  army  was  wholly  unprepared  to 
encounter  such  a  force  as  this,  so  they  fled  to 
their  ships.  All  but  about  five  hundred  of  the 
men  succeeded  in  reaching  the  ships.  The  five 
hundred  were  cut  to  pieces.  Margaret  herself 
was  detained  in  making  arrangements  for  the 
king  and  the  prince.  She  concluded  not  to 
take  them  to  sea  again,  but  to  send  them  secret- 
ly into  Wales,  while  she  herself  went  back  to 
France  to  see  if  she  could  not  procure  re-en- 
forcements. She  barely  had  time,  at  last,  to 
reach  the  ships  herself,  so  close  at  hand  were 
her  enemies.  As  soon  as  the  queen  had  em- 
barked, the  fleet  set  sail.  The  queen  had  saved 
nearly  all  the  money  and  all  the  stores  which 
she  had  brought  with  her  from  France,  and  she 
hoped  still  to  preserve  them  for  another  at- 


WARWICK.  97 

She  encounters  great  dangers  at  sea.  The  king  concealed. 

tempt.  But  the  fleet  had  scarcely  got  off  from 
the  shore  when  a  terrible  storm  arose,  and  the 
ships  were  all  driven  upon  the  rocks  and  dash- 
ed to  pieces.  The  money  and  the  stores  were 
all  lost;  a  large  portion  of  the  men  were  drown- 
ed; Margaret  herself  and  the  captain  of  the 
fleet  saved  themselves,  and,  as  soon  as  the  storm 
was  over,  they  succeeded  in  making  their  escape 
back  to  Berwick  in  an  old  fishing-boat  which 
they  obtained  on  the  shore. 

Soon  after  this,  Margaret,  with  the  captain  of 
the  fleet  and  a  very  small  number  of  faithful 
followers  who  still  adhered  to  her,  sailed  back 
again  to  France. 

The  disturbances,  however,  which  her  land- 
ing had  occasioned,  did  not  cease  immediately 
on  her  departure.  The  Lancastrian  party  all 
over  England  were  excited  and  moved  to  ac- 
tion by  the  news  of  her  coming,  and  for  two 
years  insurrections  were  continually  taking 
place,  and  many  battles  were  fought,  and  great 
numbers  of  people  were  killed.  King  Henry 
was  all  this  time  kept  in  close  concealment, 
sometimes  in  Wales,  and  sometimes  among  the 
lakes  and  mountains  in  Westmoreland.  He 
was  conveyed  from  place  to  place  by  his  ad- 
herents in  the  most  secret  manner,  the  knowl- 
edge in  respect  to  his  situation  being  confined 
9—7 


98  KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1464. 

The  king  is  made  prisoner,  and  sent  to  the  Tower. 


to  the  smallest  possible  number  of  persons. 
This  continued  for  two  or  three  years.  At  last, 
however,  while  the  friends  of  the  king  were  at- 
tempting secretly  to  convey  him  to  a  certain 
castle  in  Yorkshire,  he  was  seen  and  recognized 
by  one  of  his  enemies.  A  plan  was  immediate- 
ly formed  to  make  him  prisoner.  The  plan 
succeeded.  The  king  was  surprised  by  an 
overwhelming  force,  which  broke  into  the  cas- 
tle and  seized  him  while  he  sat  at  dinner.  His 
captors,  and  those  who  were  lying  in  wait  to 
assist  them,  galloped  off  at  once  with  their  pris- 
oner to  London.  King  Edward  shut  him  up 
in  the  Tower,  and  he  remained  there,  closely 
confined  and  strongly  guarded,  for  a  long  time. 
Thus  King  Henry's  life  was  saved,  but  of 
those  who  espoused  his  cause,  and  made  at- 
tempts tc  restore  him,  great  numbers  were 
seized  and  beheaded  in  the  most  cruel  manner. 
It  was  Edward's  policy  to  slay  all  the  leaders. 
It  was  said  that  after  a  battle  he  would  ride 
with  a  company  of  men  over  the  ground,  and 
kill  every  wounded  or  exhausted  man  of  rank 
that  still  remained  alive,  though  he  would  spare 
the  common  soldiers.  Sometimes,  when  he  got 
men  that  were  specially  obnoxious  to  him  into 
his  hands,  he  w_ould  put  them  to  death  in  the 
most  cruel  and  ignominious  manner.  One  dis- 


WARWICK.  99 

Brutal  punishments.  Great  exasperation  of  the  combatants. 

tinguished  knight,  that  had  been  taken  prisoner 
by  Warwick,  was  brought  to  King  Edward, 
who,  at  that  time,  as  it  happened,  was  sick,  and 
by  Edward's  orders  was  treated  most  brutally. 
He  was  first  taken  out  into  a  public  place,  and 
his  spurs  were  struck  off  from  his  feet  by  a 
cook.  This  was  one  of  the  greatest  indignities 
that  a  knight  could  suffer.  Then  his  coat  of 
arms  was  torn  off  from  him,  and  another  coat, 
inside  out,  was  put  upon  him.  Then  he  was 
made  to  walk  barefoot  to  the  end  of  the  town, 
and  there  was  laid  down  upon  his  back  on  a 
sort  of  drag,  and  so  drawn  to  the  place  of  exe- 
cution, where  his  head  was  cut  off  on  a  block 
with  a  broad-axe. 

Such  facts  as  these  show  what  a  state  of  ex- 
asperation the  two  great  parties  of  York  and 
Lancaster  were  in  toward  each  other  through- 
out the  kingdom.  It  is  necessary  to  under- 
stand this,  in  order  fully  to  appreciate  the  im- 
port and  consequences  of  the  very  extraordi- 
nary transaction  which  is  now  to  be  related. 

It  seems  there  was  a  certain  knight  named 
Sir  John  Gray,  a  Lancastrian,  who  had  been 
killed  at  one  of  the  great  battles  which  had 
been  fought  during  the  war.  He  had  also  been 
attainted,  as  it  was  called — that  is,  sentence  had 
been  pronounced  against  him  on  a  charge  of 
7 


100  KING  EICHARD  111. 

Account  of  Elizabeth  Woodville.         Edward's  first  interview  with  her. 

high  treason,  by  which  his  estates  were  forfeit- 
ed, and  his  wife  and  children,  of  course,  re- 
duced to  poverty.  The  name  of  his  wife  was 
Elizabeth  Woodville.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  a  noble  knight  named  Sir  Richard  Wood- 
ville. Her  mother's  name  was  Jacquetta,  On 
the  death  and  attainder  of  her  husband,  being 
reduced  to  great  poverty  and  distress,  she  went 
home  to  the  house  of  her  father  and  mother,  at 
a  beautiful  manor  which  they  possessed  at  Graf- 
ton.  She  was  quite  young,  and  very  beautiful. 
It  happened  that  by  some  means  or  other 
Edward  paid  a  visit  one  day  to  the  Lady  Jac- 
quetta, at  her  manor,  as  he  was  passing  through 
the  country.  Whether  this  visit  was  accident- 
al, or  whether  it  was  contrived  by  Jacquetta, 
does  not  appear.  However  this  may  be,  the 
beautiful  widow  came  into  the  presence  of  the 
king,  and,  throwing  herself  at  his  feet,  begged 
and  implored  him  to  revoke  the  attainder  of 
her  husband  for  the  sake  of  her  innocent  and 
helpless  children.  The  king  was  much  moved 
by  her  beauty  and  by  her  distress.  From  pity- 
ing her  he  soon  began  to  love  her.  And  yet 
it  seemed  impossible  that  he  should  marry  her. 
Her  rank,  in  the  first  place,  was  far  below  his, 
and  then,  what  was  worse,  she  belonged  to  the 
Lancastrian  party,  the  king's  implacable  ene- 


WARWICK.  101 

The  secret  marriage.  The  marriage  gradually  revealed. 

mies.  The  king  knew  very  well  that  all  his 
own  partisans  would  be  made  furious  at  the 
idea  of  such  a  match,  and  that,  if  they  knew 
that  it  was  in  contemplation,  they  would  resist 
it  to  the  utmost  of  their  power.  For  a  time  he 
did  not  know  what  he  should  do.  At  length, 
however,  his  love  for  the  beautiful  widow,  as 
might  easily  be  foreseen,  triumphed  over  all 
considerations  of  prudence,  and  he  was  secretly 
married  to  her.  The  marriage  took  place  in 
the  morning,  in  a  very  private  manner,  in  the 
month  of  May,  in  1464. 

The  king  kept  the  marriage  secret  nearly  all 
summer.  He  thought  it  best  to  break  the  sub- 
ject to  his  lords  and  nobles  gradually,  as  he 
had  opportunity  to  communicate  it  to  them 
one  by  one.  In  this  way  it  at  length  became 
known,  without  producing,  at  any  one  time,  any 
special  sensation,  and  toward  the  fall  prepara- 
tions were  made  for  openly  acknowledging  the 
union. 

Although  the  knowledge  of  the  king's  mar- 
riage produced  no  sudden  outbreak  of  opposi- 
tion, it  awakened  a  great  deal  of  secret  indig- 
nation and  rage,  and  gave  occasion  to  many 
suppressed  mutterings  and  curses.  Of  course, 
every  leading  family  of  the  realm,  that  had  been 
on  Edward's  side  in  the  civil  wars,  which  con- 


102  KING  RICHARD  III. 


Ancient  portrait  of  ICdward  IV. 


KINO   KinVAEI)   IV. 


This  engraving  is  a  portrait  of  King  Edward  as  he  ap- 
peared at  this  time.  It  is  copied  from  an  ancient  painting, 
and  doubtless  represents  correctly  the  character  and  expres- 
sion of  his  countenance,  and  one  form,  at  least,  of  dress  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  wear.  He  was,  at  the  time  of  his 
marriage,  about  twenty-two  years  of  age.  Elizabeth  was 
ten  years  older. 


WARWICK. 


Portrait  of  Queen  Elizabeth  Woodville. 


103 


QUEEN   ELIZABETH    WOODVILLE. 


This  engraving  represents  the  queen.  It  is  taken,  like 
the  other,  from  an  ancient  portrait,  and  no  doubt  corresponds 
closely  to  the  original. 

tained  a  marriageable  daughter,  had  been  form- 
ing hopes  and  laying  plans  to  secure  this  mag- 
nificent match  for  themselves.  Those  who  had 


104  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Indignation  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  George  and  Hichard. 

no  marriageable  daughters  of  their  own  join- 
ed their  nearest  relatives  and  friends  in  their 
schemes,  or  formed  plans  for  some  foreign  alli- 
ance with  a  princess  of  France,  or  Burgundy, 
or  Holland,  whichever  would  best  harmonize 
with  the  political  schemes  that  they  wished  to 
promote.  The  Earl  of  Warwick  seems  to  have 
belonged  to  the  former  class.  He  had  two 
daughters,  as  has  already  been  stated.  It  would 
very  naturally  be  his  desire  that  the  king,  if  he 
were  to  take  for  his  wife  any  English  subject 
at  all,  should  make  choice  of  one  of  these.  Of 
course,  he  was  more  than  all  the  rest  irritated 
and  vexed  at  what  the  king  had  done.  He 
communicated  his  feelings  to  Clarence,  but  con- 
cealed them  from  the  king.  Clarence  was,  of 
course,  ready  to  sympathize  with  the  earl.  He 
was  ready  enough  to  take  offense  at  any  thing 
connected  with  the  king's  marriage  on  very 
slight  grounds,  for  it  was  very  much  for  his  in- 
terest, as  the  next  heir,  that  his  brother  should 
not  be  married  at  all. 

The  earl  and  Clarence,  however,  thought  it 
best  for  the  time  to  suppress  and  conceal  their 
opposition  to  the  marriage ;  so  they  joined  very 
readily  in  the  ceremonies  connected  with  the 
public  acknowledgment  of  the  queen.  A  vast 
assemblage  of  nobles,  prelates,  and  other  grand 


AD.  1465.]         WARWICK.  107 

The  queen  is  publicly  acknowledged. 

dignitaries  was  convened,  and  Elizabeth  was 
brought  forward  before  them  and  formally  pre- 
sented. The  Earl  of  Warwick  and  Clarence  ap- 
peared in  the  foremost  rank  among  her  friends 
on  this  occasion.  They  took  her  by  the  hand, 
and,  leading  her  forward,  presented  her  to  the 
assembled  multitude  of  lords  and  ladies,  who 
welcomed  her  with  long  and  loud  acclamations. 

Soon  after  this  a  grand  council  was  con- 
vened, and  a  handsome  income  was  settled 
upon  the  queen,  to  enable  her  properly  to  main- 
tain the  dignity  of  her  station. 

Early  in  the  next  year  preparations  were 
made  for  a  grand  coronation  of  the  queen.  For- 
eign princes  were  invited  to  attend  the  cere- 
mony, and  many  came,  accompanied  by  large 
bodies  of  knights  and  squires,  to  do  honor  to 
the  occasion.  The  coronation  took  place  in 
May.  The  queen  was  conveyed  in  procession 
through  the  streets  of  London  on  a  sort  of  open 
palanquin,  borne  by  horses  most  magnificently 
caparisoned.  Vast  crowds  of  people  assembled 
along  the  streets  to  look  at  the  procession  as  it 
passed.  The  next  day  the  coronation  itself 
took  place  in  Westminster,  and  it  was  followed 
by  games,  feasts,  tournaments,  and  public  re- 
joicings of  every  kind,  which  lasted  many 
days. 


108         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1465. 

Various  difficulties  and  entanglements  resulting  from  this  marriage. 

Thus  far  every  thing  on  the  surface,  at  least, 
had  gone  well ;  but  it  was  not  long  after  the 
coronation  before  the  troubles  which  were  to 
be  expected  from  such  a  match  began  to  devel- 
op themselves  in  great  force.  The  new  queen 
was  ambitious,  and  she  was  naturally  desirous 
of  bringing  her  friends  forward  into  places  of 
influence  and  honor.  The  king  was,  of  course, 
ready  to  listen  to  her  recommendations;  but 
then  all  her  friends  were  Lancastrians.  They 
were  willing  enough,  it  is  true,  to  change  their 
politics  and  to  become  Yorkists  for  the  sake 
of  the  rewards  and  honors  which  they  could 
obtain  by  the  change,  but  the  old  friends  of  the 
king  were  greatly  exasperated  to  find  the  im- 
portant posts,  one  after  another,  taken  away 
from  them,  and  given  to  their  hated  enemies. 

Then,  besides  the  quarrel  for  the  political  of- 
fices, there  were  a  great  many  of  the  cherish- 
ed matrimonial  plans  and  schemes  of  the  old 
families  interfered  with  and  broken  up  by  the 
queen's  family  thus  coming  into  power.  It 
happened  that  the  queen  had  five  unmarried 
sisters.  She  began  to  form  plans  for  securing 
for  them  men  of  the  highest  rank  and  position 
in  the  realm.  This,  of  course,  thwarted  the 
plans  and  disappointed  the  hopes  of  all  those 
families  who  had  been  scheming  to  gain  these 


A. D.  1465.]         WARWICK.  109 

Jealousy  against  the  queen's  family  and  relations. 

husbands  for  their  own  daughters.  To  see  five 
great  heirs  of  dukes  and  barons  thus  withdrawn 
from  the  matrimonial  market,  and  employed  to 
increase  the  power  and  prestige  of  their  ancient 
and  implacable  foes,  filled  the  souls  of  the  old 
Yorkist  families  with  indignation.  Parties  were 
formed.  The  queen  and  her  family  and  friends 
— the  Woodvilles  and  Grays — with  all  their  ad- 
herents, were  on  one  side ;  the  Neville  family, 
with  the  Earl  of  Warwick  at  their  head,  and 
most  of  the  old  Yorkist  noblemen,  were  on  the 
other;  Clarence  joined  the  Earl  of  Warwick; 
Eichard,  on  the  other  hand,  or  Gloucester,  as 
he  was  now  called,  adhered  to  the  king. 

Things  went  on  pretty  much  in  this  way  for 
two  years.  There  was  no  open  quarrel,  though 
there  was  a  vast  deal  of  secret  animosity  and 
bickering.  The  great  world  at  court  was  di- 
vided into  two  sets,  or  cliques,  that  hated  each 
other  very  cordially,  though  both,  for  the  pres- 
ent, pretended  to  support  King  Edward  as  the 
rightful  sovereign  of  the  country.  The  strug- 
gle was  for  the  honors  and  offices  under  him. 
The  families  who  still  adhered  to  the  old  Lan- 
castrian party,  and  to  the  rights  of  Henry  and 
of  the  little  Prince  of  Wales,  withdrew,  of  course, 
altogether  from  the  court,  and,  retiring  to  their 
castles,  brooded  moodily  there  over  their  fallen 


110         KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1467. 

f-ituation  of  Henry  and  his  family.  Margaret  of  York. 

fortunes,  and  waited  in  expectation  of  better 
times.  Henry  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower; 
Margaret  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  were  on  the 
Continent.  They  and  their  friends  were,  of 
course,  watching  the  progress  of  the  quarrel  be- 
tween the  party  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick  and 
that  of  the  king,  hoping  that  it  might  at  last 
lead  to  an  open  rupture,  in  which  case  the  Lan- 
castrians might  hope  for  Warwick's  aid  to  bring 
them  again  into  power. 

And  now  another  circumstance  occurred 
which  widened  this  breach  very  much  indeed. 
It  arose  from  a  difference  of  opinion  between 
King  Edward  and  the  Earl  of  Warwick  in  re- 
spect to  the  marriage  of  the  king's  sister  Mar- 
garet, known,  as  has  already  been  said,  as  Mar- 
garet of  York.  There  was  upon  the  Continent 
a  certain  Count  Charles,  the  son  and  heir  of  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  demanded  her  hand. 
The  count's  family  had  been  enemies  of  the 
house  of -York,  and  had  done  every  thing  in 
their  power  to  promote  Queen  Margaret's  plans, 
so  long  as  there  was  any  hope  for  her;  but 
when  they  found  that  King  Edward  was  firm- 
ly established  on  the  throne,  they  came  over  to 
his  side,  and  now  the  count  demanded  the  hand 
of  the  Princess  Margaret  in  marriage ;  but  the 
stem  old  Earl  of  Warwick  did  not  like  such 


WARWICK   IN    THE  PBESENCE   OK   TUB   PBKSCII   KINO. 


WARWICK.  lle> 

Plans  and  manwuvres  in  respect  to  Margaret's  marriage. 

friendship  as  this,  so  he  recommended  that  the 
count  should  be  refused,  and  that  Margaret 
should  have  for  her  husband  one  of  the  princes 
of  France. 

Now  King  Edward  himself  preferred  Count 
Charles  for  the  husband  of  Margaret,  and  this 
chiefly  because  the  queen,  his  wife,  preferred 
him  on  account  of  the  old  friendship  which  had 
subsisted  between  his  family  and  the  Lancas- 
trians. Besides  this,  however,  Flanders,  the 
country  over  which  the  count  was  to  reign  on 
the  death  of  his  father,  was  at  that  time  so  sit- 
uated that  an  alliance  with  it  would  be  of  great- 
er advantage  to  Edward's  political  plans  than 
an  alliance  with  France.  But,  notwithstanding 
this,  the  earl  was  so  earnest  in  urging  his  opin- 
ion, that  finally  Edward  yielded,  and  the  earl 
was  dispatched  to  France  to  negotiate  the  mar- 
riage with  the  French  prince. 

The  earl  set  off  on  this  embassy  in  great  mag- 
nificence. He  landed  in  Normandy  with  a  vast 
train  of  attendants,  and  proceeded  in  almost 
royal  state  toward  Paris.  The  King  of  France, 
to  honor  his  coming  and  the  occasion,  came 
forth  to  meet  him.  The  meeting  took  place  at 
Rouen.  The  proposals  were  well  received  by 
the  French  king.  The  negotiations  were  con- 
tinued for  eight  or  ten  days,  and  at  last  every 
9—8 


KING  RICHAED  III. 


Count  Charles  carries  the  day.  Vexation  of  Warwick. 

thing  was  arranged.  For  the  final  closing  of 
the  contract,  it  was  necessary  that  a  messenger 
from  the  King  of  France  should  proceed  to 
London.  The  king  appointed  an  archbishop 
and  some  other  dignitaries  to  perform  the  serv- 
ice. The  earl  then  returned  to  England,  and 
was  soon  followed  by  the  French  embassadors, 
expecting  that  every  thing  essential  was  set- 
tled, and  that  nothing  but  a  few  formalities  re- 
mained. 

But,  in  the  mean  time,  while  all  this  had  been 
going  on  in  France,  Count  Charles  had  quietly 
sent  an  embassador  to  England  to  press  his 
•claim  to  the  princess's  hand.  This  messenger 
managed  this  business  very  skillfully,  so  as  not 
to  attract  any  public  attention  to  what  he  was 
doing  ;  and  besides,  the  earl  being  away,  the 
queen,  Elizabeth,  could  exert  all  her  influence 
over  her  husband's  mind  unimpeded.  Edward 
was  finally  persuaded  to  promise  Margaret's 
hand  to  the  count,  and  the  contracts  were  made  ; 
so  that,  when  the*  earl  and  the  French  embassa- 
dors arrived,  they  found,  to  their  astonishment 
and  dismay,  that  a  rival  and  enemy  had  stepped 
in  during  their  absence  and  secured  the  prize. 

The  Earl  of  Warwick  was  furious  when  he 
learned  how_  he  had  been  deceived.  He  had 
been  insulted,  he  said,  and  disgraced.  Edward 


A.D.1468.]          WARWICK.  115 

Progress  of  the  quarrel.  A  temporary  reconciliation. 

made  no  attempt  to  pacify  him;  indeed,  any 
attempt  that  he  could  have  made  would  prob- 
ably have  been  fruitless.  The  earl  withdrew 
from  the  court,  went  off  to  one  of  his  castles, 
and  shut  himself  up  there  in  great  displeasure. 

The  quarrel  now  began  to  assume  a  very  se- 
rious air.  Edward  suspected  that  the  earl  was ' 
forming  plots  and  conspiracies  against  him. 
He  feared  that  he  was  secretly  designing  to- 
take  measures  for  restoring  the  Lancastrian  line 
to  the  throne.  He  was  alarmed  for  his  personal 
safety.  He  expelled  all  Warwick's  family  and 
friends  from  the  court,  and,  whenever  he  went 
out  in  public,  he  took  3are  to  be  always  attend- 
ed by  a  strong  boay-guard,  as  if  he  thought 
there  was  dange-r  of  an  attempt  upon  his  life. 

At  length  one  of  the  earl's  brothers,  the- 
youngest  of  the  family,  who  was  at  that  time 
Archbishop  of  York,  interposed  to  effect  a  rec- 
onciliation. We  have  not  space  here  to  give  a 
full  account  of  the  negotiations ;  but  the  result 
was,  a  sort  of  temporary  peace  was  made,  by 
which  the  earl  again  returned  to  court,  and  was 
restored  apparently  to  his  former  position.  But 
there  was  no  cordial  good- will  between  him  and 
the  king.  Edward  dreaded  the  earl's  powerr 
and  hated  the  stern  severity  of  his  characterr 
while  the  earl,  by  the  commanding  influence- 
8 


116         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1468. 


A  new  marriage  scheme.  Edward  displeased. 

which  he  exerted  in  the  realm,  was  continually 
thwarting  both  Edward  and  Elizabeth  in  their 
plans. 

Edward  and  Elizabeth  had  now  been  mar- 
ried some  time,  but  they  had  no  son,  and,  of 
course,  no  heir,  for  daughters  in  those  days  did 
'  not  inherit  the  English  crown.  Of  course,  Clar- 
ence, Edward's  second  brother,  was  the  next 
heir.  This  increased  the  jealousy  which  the 
two  brothers  felt  toward  each  other,  and  tended 
very  much  to  drive  Clarence  away  from  Ed- 
ward, and  to  increase  the  intimacy  between  Clar- 
ence and  "Warwick.  At  length,  in  1468,  it  was 
announced  that  a  main,  qje  was  in  contempla- 
tion between  Clarence  and  Isabella,  the  Earl 
of  Warwick's  oldest  daughter.  Edward  and 
Queen  Elizabeth  were  very  much  displeased 
and  very  much  alarmed  when  they  heard  of 
this  plan.  If  carried  into  effect,  it  would  bind 
Clarence  and  the  Warwick  influence  together 
in  indissoluble  bonds,  and  make  their  power 
much  more  formidable  than  ever  before.  Ev- 
ery body  would  say  when  the  marriage  was 
concluded, 

"  Now,  in  case  Edward  should  die,  which 
event  may  happen  at  any  time,  the  earl's  daugh- 
ter will  be  queen,  and  then  the  earl  will  have  a 
greater  influence  than  ever  in  the  disposition 


WARWICK.  117 

He  fails  of  preventing  the  marriage.    The  ceremony  performed  at  Calais. 

of  offices  and  honors.  It  behooves  us,  there- 
fore, to  make  friends  with  him  in  season,  so  as 
to  secure  his  good- will  in  advance,  before  he 
comes  into  power." 

King  Edward  and  his  queen,  seeing  how  much 
this  match  was  likely  at  once  to  increase  the 
earl's  importance,  did  every  thing  in  their  pow- 
er to  prevent  it.  But  they  could"  not  succeed. 
The  earl  was  determined  that  Clarence  and  his 
daughter  should  be  married.  The  opposition 
was,  however,  so  strong  at  court  that  the  mar- 
riage could  not  be  celebrated  at  London;  so 
the  ceremony  was  performed  at  Calais,  which 
city  was  at  that  time  under  the  earl's  special 
command.  The  king  and  queen  remained  at 
London,  and  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  their 
vexation  and  chagrin. 


118  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Insurrections.  The  king  goes  to  meet  the  rebels. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  DOWNFALL  OF  YORK. 

EDWARD'S  apprehension  and  anxiety  in 
respect  to  the  danger  that  Warwick  might 
be  concocting  schemes  to  restore  the  Lancas- 
trian line  to  the  throne  were  greatly  increased 
by  the  sudden  breaking  out  of  insurrections  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  island,  while  Warwick 
and  Clarence  were  absent  in  Calais,  on  the  oc- 
casion of  Clarence's  marriage  to  Isabella.  The 
insurgents  did  not  demand  the  restoration  of 
tne  Lancastrian  line,  but  only  the  removal  of 
the  queen's  family  and  relations  from  the  coun- 
cil. The  king  raised  an  armeu  force,  and  march- 
ed to  the  northward  to  meet  the  rebels.  But 
his  army  was  disaffected,  and  he  could  do  noth- 
ing. They  fled  before  the  advancing  army  of 
insurgents,  and  Edward  went  with  them  to  Not- 
tingham Castle,  where  he  shut  himself  up,  and 
wrote  urgently  to  Warwick  and  Clarence  to 
<;ome  to  his  aid. 

Warwick  made  no  haste  to  obey  this  com- 
mand. After  some  delay,  however,  he  left  Ca- 
lais in  command  of  one  of  his  lieutenants  and 


AD.  1469.]  DOWNFALL  OF  YORK.       119 

Rebellion  suppressed.  A  grand  reconciliatipn. 

repaired  to  Nottingham,  where  he  soon  released 
the  king  from  his  dangerous  situation.  He 
quelled  the  rebellion  too,  but  not  until  the  in- 
surgents had  seized  the  father  and  one  of  the 
brothers  of  the  queen,  and  cut  off  their  heads. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Lancastrians  them- 
selves, thinking  that  this  was  a  favorable  time 
for  them,  began  to  put  themselves  in  motion. 
Warwick  was  the  only  person  who  was  capable 
of  meeting  them  and  putting  them  down.  This 
he  did,  taking  the  king  with  him  in  his  train, 
in  a  condition  more  like  that  of  a  prisoner  than 
a  sovereign.  At  length,  however,  the  rebel- 
lions were  suppressed,  and  all  parties  returned 
to  London. 

There  now  took  place  what  purported  to  be 
a  grand  reconciliation.  Treaties  were  drawn 
up  and  signed  between  Warwick  and  Clarence 
on  one  side,  and  the  king  on  the  other,  by  which 
both  parties  bound  themselves  to  forgive  and 
forget  all  that  had  passed,  and  thenceforth  to 
be  good  friends ;  but,  notwithstanding  all  the 
solemn  signings  and  sealings  with  which  these 
covenants  were  secured,  the  actual  condition  of 
the  parties  in  respect  to  each  other  remained 
entirely  unchanged,  and  neither  of  the  three 
felt  a  whit  more  confidence  in  the  others  after 
the  execution  of  these  treaties  than  before. 


120  KING  RICHARD  III. 

The  king  frightened.  The  quarrel  renewed. 

At  last  the  secret  distrust  which  they  felt  to- 
ward each  other  broke  out  openly.  Warwick's 
brother,  the  Archbishop  of  York,  made  an  en- 
tertainment at  one  of  his  manors  for  a  party  of 
guests,  in  which  were  included  the  king,  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  and  the  Earl  of  Warwick. 
It  was  about  three  months  after  the  treaties 
were  signed  that  this  entertainment  was  made, 
and  the  feast  was  intended  to  celebrate  and  ce- 
ment the  good  understanding  which  it  was  now 
agreed  was  henceforth  to  prevail.  The  king 
arrived  at  the  manor,  and,  while  he  was  in  his 
room  making  his  toilet  for  the  supper,  which 
was  all  ready  to  be  served,  an  attendant  came 
to  him  and  whispered  in  his  ear, 

"  Your  majesty  is  in  danger.  There  is  a  band 
of  armed  men  in  ambush  near  the  house." 

The  king  was  greatly  alarmed  at  hearing 
this.  He  immediately  stole  out  of  the  house, 
mounted  his  horse,  and,  with  two  or  three  fol- 
lowers, rode  away  as  fast  as  he  could  ride.  He 
continued  his  journey  all  night,  and  in  the 
morning  arrived  at  Windsor  Castle. 

Then  followed  new  negotiations  between 
Warwick  and  the  king,  with  mutual  reproach- 
es, criminations,  and  recriminations  without 
number.  Edward  insisted  that  treachery  was 
intended  at  the  house  to  which  he  had  been  in- 


A.D.1469.]  DOWNFALL  OF  YORK.      121 

New  reconciliations.  New  rebellions. 

vited,  and  that  he  had  barely  escaped,  by  his 
sudden  flight,  from  falling  into  the  snare.  But 
Warwick  and  his^  friends  denied  this  entirely, 
and  attributed  the  flight  of  the  king  to  a  whol- 
ly unreasonable  alarm,  caused  by  his  jealous 
and  suspicious  temper.  At  last  Edward  suf- 
fered himself  to  be  reassured,  and  then  came 
new  treaties  and  a  new  reconciliation. 

This  peace  was  made  in  the  fall  of  1469, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1470  a  new  insurrection 
broke  out.  The  king  believed  that  Warwick 
himself,  and  Clarence,  were  really  at  the  bottom 
of  these  disturbances,  but  still  he  was  forced  to 
send  them  with  bodies  of  troops  to  subdue  the 
rebels ;  he,  however,  immediately  raised  a  large 
army  for  himself,  and  proceeded  to  the  seat  of 
war.  He  reached  the  spot  before  Warwick  and 
Clarence  arrived  there.  He  gave  battle  to  the 
insurgents,  and  defeated  them.  He  took  a  great 
many  prisoners,  and  beheaded  them.  He  found, 
or  pretended  to  find,  proof  that  Warwick  and 
Clarence,  instead  of  intending  to  fight  the  in- 
surgents, had  made  their  arrangements  for  join- 
ing them  on  the  following  day,  and  that  he 
had  been  just  in  time  to  defeat  their  treachery. 
Whether  he  really  found  evidence  of  these  in- 
tentions on  the  part  of  Warwick  and  Clarence 
or  not,  or  whether  he  was  flushed  by  the  ex- 


122  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Warwick  comes  to  open  war  with  the  king. 

citement  of  victory,  and  resolved  to  seize  the 
occasion  to  cut  loose  at  once  and  forever  from 
the  entanglement  in  which  he  had  been  bound, 
is  somewhat  uncertain.  At  all  events,  he  now 
declared  open  war  against  Warwick  and  Clar- 
ence, and  set  off  immediately  on  his  march  to 
meet  them,  at  the  head  of  a  force  much  superi- 
or to  theirs. 

Warwick  and  Clarence  marched  and  coun- 
termarched, and  made  many  manoeuvres  to  es- 
cape a  battle,  and  during  all  this  time  their 
strength  was  rapidly  diminishing.  As  long  as 
they  were  nominally  on  the  king's  side,  how- 
ever really  hostile  to  him,  they  had  plenty  of 
followers ;  but,  now  that  they  were  in  open  war 
against  him,  their  forces  began  to  melt  away. 
In  this  emergency,  Warwick  suddenly  changed 
all  his  plans.  He  disbanded  his  army,  and  then 
taking  all  his  family  with  him,  including  Clar- 
ence and  Isabella,  and  accompanied  by  an  in- 
considerable number  of  faithful  friends,  he 
marched  at  the  head  of  a  small  force  which  he 
retained  as  an  escort  to  the  sea-port  of  Dart- 
mouth, and  then  embarked  for  Calais. 

The  vessels  employed  to  transport  the  party 
formed  quite  a  little  fleet,  so  numerous  were  the 
servants  and  attendants  that  accompanied  the 
fugitives.  They  embarked  without  delay  on 


DOWNFALL  OF  YORK. 


\\ar\vick  and  his  party  not  allowed  to  laud  at  Calais. 


reaching  the  coast,  as  they  were  in  haste  to 
make  the  passage  and  arrive  at  Calais,  for  Isa- 
bella, Clarence's  wife,  was  about  to  become  a 
mother,  and  at  Calais  they  thought  that  they 
should  all  be,  as  it  were,  at  home. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick was  the  governor  of  Calais,  and  that  when 
he  left  it  he  had  appointed  a  lieutenant  to  take 
command  of  it  during  his  absence.  Before  his 
ship  arrived  off  the  port  this  lieutenant  had  re- 
ceived dispatches  from  Edward,  which  had  been 
hurried  to  him  by  a  special  messenger,  inform- 
ing him  that  Warwick  was  in  rebellion  against 
his  sovereign,  and  forbidding  the  lieutenant  to 
allow  him  or  his  party  to  enter  the  town. 

Accordingly,  when  Warwick's  fleet  arrived 
off  the  port,  they  found  the  guns  of  the  batter- 
ies pointed  at  them,  and  sentinels  on  the  piers 
"warning  them  not  to  attempt  to  land. 

Warwick  was  thunderstruck.  Tb  be  thus 
refused  admission  to  his  own  fortress  by  his 
own  lieutenant  was  something  amazing,  as  well 
as  outrageous.  The  earl  was  at  first  complete- 
ly bewildered-;  but,  on  demanding  an  explana- 
tion, the  lieutenant  sent  him  word  that  the  re- 
fusal to  land  was  owing  to  the  people  of  the 
town.  They,  be  said,  having  learned  that  he 
and  the  king  had  come  to  open  war,  insisted 


124  KING  RICHARD  III. 

The  party  In  great  straits.  They  land  at  Harfleur. 

that  the  fortress  should  be  reserved  for  their 
sovereign.  Warwick  then  explained  the  situ- 
ation that  his  daughter  was  in ;  but  the  lieuten- 
ant was  firm.  The  determination  of  the  peo- 
ple was  so  strong,  he  said,  that  he  could  not 
control  it.  Finally,  the  child  was  born  on  board 
the  ship,  as  it  lay  at  anchos  off  the  port,  and  all 
the  aid  or  comfort  which  the  party  could  get 
from  the  shore  consisted  of  two  flagons  of  wine, 
which  the  lieutenant,  with  great  hesitation  and 
reluctance,  allowed  to  be  sent  on  board.  The 
child  was  a  son.  His  birth  was  an  event  of 
great  importance,  for  he  was,  of  course,  as  Clar- 
ence's son,  a  prince  in  the  direct  line  of  succes- 
sion to  the  English  crown. 

At  length,  finding  that  he  could  not  land  at 
Calais,  Warwick  sailed  away  with  his  fleet  along 
the  coast  of  France  till  he  reached  the  French 
port  of  Harfleur.  Here  his  ships  were  admit- 
ted, and  the  whole  party  were  allowed  to  land. 

Then  followed  various  intrigues,  manoeuvres, 
and  arrangements,  which  we  have  not  time  here 
fully  to  unravel ;  but  the  end  of  all  was,  that  in 
a  few  weeks  after  the  Earl  of  Warwick's  land- 
ing in  France,  he  repaired  to  a  castle  where 
Margaret  of  Anjou  and  her  son,  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  were  residing,  and  there,  in  the  course 
of  a  short  time,  he  made  arrangements  to  es- 


A.D.1470.]  DOWNFALL  OF  YORK.      125 

Strange  compact  between  Warwick  and  Queen  Margaret. 

pouse  her  cause,  and  assist  in  restoring  her  hus- 
band to  the  English  throne,  on  condition  that 
her  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  should  marry  his 
second  daughter  Anne.  It  is  said  that  Queen 
Margaret  for  a  long  time  refused  to  consent  to 
this  arrangement.  She  was  extremely  unwill- 
ing that  her  son,  the  heir  to  the  English  crown, 
should  take  for  a  wife  the  daughter  of  the  hated 
€nemy  to  whom  the  downfall  of  her  family, 
and  all  the  terrible  calamities  which  had  be- 
fallen them,  had  been  mainly  owing.  She  was, 
however,  at  length  induced  to  yield.  Her  am- 
bition gained  the  victory  over  her  hate,  and 
she  consented  to  the  alliance  on  a  solemn  oath 
being  taken  by  Warwick  that  thenceforth  he 
would  be  on  her  side,  and  do  all  in  his  power  to 
restore  her  family  to  the  throne. 

This  arrangement  was  accordingly  carried 
into  effect,  and  thus  the  earl  had  one  of  his 
daughters  married  to  the  next  heir  to  the  En- 
glish crown  in  the  line  of  York,  and  the  other 
to  the  next  heir  in  the  line  of  Lancaster.  He 
had  now  only  to  choose  to  which  dynasty  he 
would  secure  the  throne.  Of  course,  the  oath 
which  he  had  taken,  like  other  political  oaths 
taken  in  those  days,  was  only  to  be  kept  so  long 
as  he  should  deem  it  for  his  interest  to  keep  it. 

He  could  not  at  once  openly  declare  in  favor 


126         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1470 

Attempt  to  entice  Clarence  away  from  Warwick. 

of  King  Henry,  for  fear  of  alienating  Clarence 
from  him.  But  Clarence  was  soon  drawn  away. 
King  Edward,  when  he  h^ard  of  the  marriage" 
of  Warwick's  daughter  with  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  immediately  formed  a  plan  for  sending 
a  messenger  to  negotiate  with  Clarence.  He 
could  not  do  this  openly,  for  he  knew  very  well 
that  Warwick  would  not  allow  any  avowed 
messenger  from  Edward  to  land ;  so  he  sent  a 
lady.  The  lady  was  a  particular  friend  of  Isa- 
bella, Clarence's  wife.  She  traveled  privately 
by  the  way  of  Calais.  On  the  way  she  said 
nothing  about  the  object  of  her  journey,  but 
gave  out  simply  that  she  was  going  to  join  her 
mistress,  the  Princess  Isabella.  On  her  arrival 
she  managed  the  affair  with  great  discretion. 
She  easily  obtained  private  interviaws  with 
Clarence,  and  represented  to  him  that  Warwick, 
now  that  his  daughter  was  married  to  the  heir 
on  the  Lancastrian  side,  would  undoubtedly  lay 
all  his  plans  forthwith  for  putting  that  family 
on  the  throne,  and  that  thus  Clarence  would 
lose  all. 

"And  therefore,"  said  she,  "how  much  bet- 
ter it  will  be  for  you  to  leave  him  and  return 
to  your  brother  Edward,  who  is  ready  to  for- 
give and  forgetrall  the  past,  and  receive  you 
again  as  his  friend." 


DOWNFALL  OF  YORK. 


Kdward  does  not  fear.  The  Duke  of  llurgundy. 

Clarence  was  convinced  by  these  representa* 
tions,  and  soon  afterward,  watching  his  oppor- 
tunity, he  made  his  way  to  England,  and  there 
espoused  his  brother's  cause,  and  was  received 
again  into  his  service. 

In  the  mean  time,  tidings  were  continually 
coming  to  King  Edward  from  his  friends  on 
the  Continent,  warning  him  of  Warwick's  plans, 
and  bidding  him  to  be  upon  his  guard.  But 
Edward  had  no  fear.  He  said  he  wished  that 
Warwick  would  come. 

"  All  I  ask  of  my  friends  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Channel,"  said  he,  "  is  that,  when  he  does 
come,  they  will  not  let  him  get  away  again  be- 
fore I  catch  him — as  he  did  before." 

Edward's  great  friend  across  the  Channel  was 
his  brother-in-law,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the 
same  who,  when  Count  Charles,  had  married 
the  Princess  Margaret  of  York,  as  related  in  a 
former  chapter.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy  pre- 
pared and  equipped  a  fleet,  and  had  it  all  in 
readiness  to  intercept  the  earl  in  case  he  should 
attempt  to  sail  for  England. 

In  the  mean  time,  Queen  Margaret  and  the 
earl  went  on  with  their  preparations.  The 
King  of  France  furnished  them -with  men,  arms, 
and  money.  When  every  thing  was  ready,  the 
earl  sent  word  to  the  north  of  England,  to  some 


128  KING  RICHARD  III. 


Queen  Margaret  crosses  the  Channel. 


of  his  friends  and  partisans  there,  to  make  a 
sort  of  false  insurrection,  in  order  to  entice  away 
Edward  and  his  army  from  the  capital.  This 
plan  succeeded.  Edward  heard  of  the  rising, 
and,  collecting  all  the  troops  which  were  at  hand, 
he  marched  to  the  northward  to  put  it  down. 
Just  at  this  time  a  sudden  storm  arose  and  dis- 
persed the  Duke,  of  Burgundy's  fleet.  The  earl 
then  immediately  put  to  sea,  taking  with  him 
Margaret  of  Anjou  and  her  son,  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  with  his  wife,  the  Earl  of  Warwick's 
daughter.  The  Prince  of  Wales  was  now  about 
eighteen  years  old.  The  father,  King  Henry, 
Margaret's  husband,  was  not  joined  with  the 
party.  He  was  all  this  time,  as  you  will  recol- 
lect, a  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  where  Warwick 
himself  had  shut  him  up  when  he  deposed  him 
in  order  to  place  Edward  upon  the  throne. 

All  Europe  looked  on  with  astonishment  at 
these  proceedings,  and  watched  the  result  with 
intense  interest.  Here  was  a  man  who,  having, 
by  a  desperate  and  bloody  war,  deposed  a  king, 
and  shut  him  up  in  prison,  and  compelled  his 
queen  and  the  prince  his  son,  the  heir,  to  fly 
from  the  country  to  save  their  lives,  had  now 
sought  the  exiles  in  their  banishment,  had  mar- 
ried his  own  daughter  to  the  prince,  and  was 
setting  forth  on  an  expedition  for  the  purpose 


DOWNFALL  OF  YORK.          129 

Landing  of  the  expedition.  Reception  of  it. 

of  liberating  the  father  again,  and  restoring  him 
to  the  throne. 

The  earl's  fleet  crossed  the  Channel  safely, 
and  landed  on  the  coast  of  Devonshire,  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  island.  The  landing 
of  the  expedition  was  the  signal  for  great  num- 
bers of  the  nobles  and  high  families  throughout 
the  realm  to  prepare  for  changing  sides ;  for 
it  was  the  fact,  throughout  the  whole  course  of 
these  wars  between  the  houses  of  York  and 
Lancaster,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  nobil- 
ity and  gentry,  and  great  numbers  of  other  ad- 
venturers, who  lived  in  various  ways  on  the 
public,  stood  always  ready  at  once  to  change 
sides  whenever  there  was  a  prospect  that  an- 
other side  was  coming  into  power.  Then  there 
were,  in  such  a  case  as  this,  great  numbers  who 
were  secretly  in  favor  of  the  Lancaster  line,  but 
who  were  prevented  from  manifesting  their 
preference  while  the  house  of  York  was  in  full 
possession  of  power.  All  these  persons  were 
aroused  and  excited  by  the  landing  of  War- 
wick. King  Edward  found  that  his  calls  upon 
his  friends  to  rally  to  his  standard  were  not 
promptly  obeyed.  His  friends  were  beginning 
to  feel  some  doubt  whether  it  would  be  best  to 
continue  his  friends.  A  certain  preacher  in 
London  had  the  courage  to  pray  in  public  for 
9—9 


130  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Edward's  friends  and  followers  forsake  him. 

the  "  king  in  the  Tower,"  and  the  manner  in 
which  this  allusion  was  received  by  the  popu- 
lace, and  the  excitement  which  it  produced, 
showed  how  ready  the  city  of  London  was  to 
espouse  Henry's  cause. 

These,  and  other  such  indications,  alarmed 
Edward  very  much.  He  turned  to  the  south- 
ward again  when  he  learned  that  Warwick  had 
landed.  Richard,  who  had,  during  all  this  pe- 
riod, adhered  faithfully  to  Edward's  cause,  was 
with  him,  in  command  of  a  division  of  the  army. 
As  Warwick  himself  was  rapidly  advancing  to- 
ward the  north  at  this  time,  the  two  armies  soon 
began  to  approach  each  other.  As  the  time  of 
trial  drew  nigh,  Edward  found  that  his  friends 
and  supporters  were  rapidly  abandoning  him. 
At  length,  one  day,  while  he  was  at  dinner,  a 
messenger  came  in  and  told  him  that  one  of 
the  leading  officers  of  the  army,  with  the  whole 
division  under  his  command,  were  waving  their 
«aps  and  cheering  for  "King  Harry."  He  saw 
at  once  that  all  was  lost,  and  he  immediately 
prepared  to  fly. 

He  was  not  far  from  the  eastern  coast  at  this 
time,  and  there  was  a  small  vessel  there  under 
his  orders,  which  had  been  employed  in  bring- 
ing provisions  from  the  Thames  to  supply  his 
nrmy.  There  were  also  two  Dutch  vessels  there. 


DOWNFALL  OF  YORK.         131 

Edward  flies  from  the  country.  Difficulties  and  dangers. 

The  king  took  possession  of  these  vessels,  with 
Richard,  and  the  few  other  followers  that  went 
with  him,  and  put  at  once  to  sea.  Nobody 
knew  where  they  were  going. 

Very  soon  after  they  had  put  to  sea  they 
were  attacked  by  pirates.  They  escaped  only 
by  running  their  vessel  on  shore  on  the  coast 
of  Finland.  Here  the  king  found  himself  in  a 
state  of  almost  absolute  destitution,  so  that  he 
had  to  pawn  his  clothing  to  satisfy  the  most 
urgent  demands.  At  length,  after  meeting  with 
various  strange  adventures,  he  found  his  way  to 
the  Hague,  where  he  was,  for  the  time,  in  com- 
parative safety. 

As  soon  as  Warwick  ascertained  that  Ed- 
ward had  fled,  he  turned  toward  London,  with 
nothing  now  to  impede  his  progress.  He  en- 
tered London  in  triumph.  Clarence  joined  him, 
and  entered  London  in  his  train ;  for  Clarence, 
though  he  had  gone  to  England  with  the  inten- 
tion of  making  common  cause  with  his  brother, 
had  not  been  able  yet  to  decide  positively 
whether  it  would,  on  the  whole,  be  for  his  in- 
terest to  do  so,  and  had,  accordingly,  kept  him- 
self in  some  degree  uncommitted,  and  now  he 
turned  at  once  again  to  Warwick's  side. 

The  queen — Elizabeth  Woodville — with  her 
mother  Jacquetta,,  were  residing  at  the  Tower 
9 


132  KING  EICHARD  III. 

His  mother  makes  her  escape  to  sanctuary. 

at  this  time,  where  they  had  King  Henry  in 
their  keeping;  for  the  Tower  was  an  extended 
group  of  buildings,  in  which  palace  and  prison 
were  combined  in  one.  As  soon  as  the  queen 
learned  that  Edward  was  defeated,  and  that 
Warwick  and  Clarence  were  coming  in  triumph 
to  London,  she  took  her  mother  and  three  of 
her  daughters — Elizabeth,  Mary,  and  Cecily — 
who  were  with  her  at  that  time,  and  also  a  lady 
attendant,  and  hurried  down  the  Tower  stairs 
to  a  barge  which  was  always  in  waiting  there. 
She  embarked  on  board  the  barge,  and  ordered 
the  men  to  row  her  up  to  Westminster. 

Westminster  is  at  the  upper  end  of  London, 
as  the  Tower  is  at  the  lower.  On  arriving  at 
Westminster,  the  whole  party  fled  for  refuge  to 
a  sanctuary  there.  This  sanctuary  was  a  por- 
tion of  the  sacred  precincts  of  a  church,  from, 
which  a  refugee  could  not  be  taken,  according 
to  -the  ideas  of  those  times,  without  committing 
the  dreadful  crime  of  sacrilege.  A  part  of  the 
building  remained  standing  for  three  hundred 
years  after  this  time,  as  represented  in  the  oppo- 
site engraving.  It  was  a  gloomy  old  edifice,  and 
it  must  have  been  a  cheerless  residence  for  prin- 
cesses and  a  queen. 

In  this  sanctuary,  the  queen,  away  from  her 
husband,  and  deprived  of  almost  every  comfort, 


AJX1470.]  DOWNFALL  OF  YORK.      135 


Birth  of  Kdward's  son  and  heir. 


gave  birth  to  her  first  son.  Some  persons  liv- 
ing near  took  compassion  upon  her  forlorn  and 
desolate  condition,  and  rendered  her  such  aid 
as  was  absolutely  necessary,  out  of  charity. 
The  abbot  of  the  monastery  connected  with  the 
church  sent  in  various  conveniences,  and  a 
good  woman  named  Mother  Cobb,  who  lived 
near  by,  came  in  and  acted  as  nurse  for  the 
mother  and  the  cUild. 

The  child  was  baptized  in  the  sanctuary  a 
few  days  after  he  was  born.  He  was  named 
Edward,  after  his  father.  Of  course,  the  birth 
of  this  son  of  King  Edward  cut  off  Clarence 
and  his  son  from  the  succession  on  the  York 
side.  This  little  Edward  was  now  the  heir, 
and,  about  thirteen  years  after  this,  as  we  shall 
see  in  the  sequel,  he  became  King  of  England. 

As  soon  as  the  Earl  of  Warwick  reached 
London,  he  proceeded  at  once  to  the  Tower  to 
release  old  King  Henry  from  his  confinement. 
He  found  the  poor  king  in  a  wretched  plight. 
His  apartment  was  gloomy  and  comfortless,  his 
clothing  was  ragged,  and  his  person  squalid  and 
dirty.  The  earl  brought  him  forth  from  his 
prison,  and,  after  causing  his  personal  wants  to 
be  properly  attended  to,  clothed  him  once  more 
in  royal  robes,  and  conveyed  him  in  state 
through  London  to  the  palace  in  Westminster,. 


136         KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1470. 

King  Henry  is  fully  restored  to  the  throne. 

and  established  him  there  nominally  as  King 
of  England,  though  Warwick  was  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  the  real  king.  A  Parliament  was 
called,  and  all  necessary  laws  were  passed  to 
sanction  and  confirm  the  dynasty.  Queen  Mar- 
garet, who,  however,  had  not  yet  arrived  from 
the  Continent,  was  restored  to  her  former  rank, 
and  the  young  Prince  of  Wales,  now  about 
eighteen  years  old,  was  the  object  of  universal 
interest  throughout  the  kingdom,  as  now  the 
unquestioned  and  only  heir  to  the  crown. 


AJ).  1470.]  FALL  OF  LANCASTER.      137 

Position  of  Richard.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  DOWNFALL  OF  LANCASTER. 

IT  was  in  the  month  of  October,  1470,  that 
old  King  Henry  and  his  family  were  re-- 
stored  to  the  throne.  Clarence,  as  we  have 
seen,  being  allied  to  Warwick  by  being  mar- 
ried to  his  daughter,  was  induced  to  go  over 
with  him  to  the  Lancastrian  side ;  but  Glouces- 
ter— that  is,  Richard — remained  true  to  his  own 
line,  and  followed  the  fortunes  of  his  brother, 
in  adverse  as  well  as  in  prosperous  times,  with 
unchanging  fidelity.  He  was  now  with  Ed- 
ward in  the  dominions  of  the  Duke  of  Burgun- 
dy, who,  you  will  recollect,  married  Margaret, 
Edward's  sister,  and  who  was  now  very  natu- 
rally inclined  to  espouse  Edward's  cause. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  did  not,  however, 
dare  to  espouse  Edward's  cause  too  openly,  for 
fear  of  the  King  of  France,  who  took  the  side 
of  Henry  and  Queen  Margaret.  He,  however, 
did  all  in  his  power  secretly  to  befriend  him. 
Edward  and  Eichard  began  immediately  to 
form  schemes  for  going  back  to  England  and 
recovering  possession  of  the  kingdom.  The 


138  KING  RICHARD  III. 

11  in  cunning.  Secret  communication  with  Clare  ace. 

Duke  of  Burgundy  issued  a  public  proclama- 
tion, in  which  it  was  forbidden  that  any  of  his 
subjects  should  join  Edward,  or  that  any  expe- 
dition to  promote  his  designs  should  be  fitted 
out  in  any  part  of  his  dominions.  This  procla- 
mation was  for  the  sake  of  the  King  of  France. 
At  the  same  time  that  he  issued  these  orders 
publicly,  he  secretly  sent  Edward  a  large  sum 
of  money,  furnished  hinvwith  a  fleet  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  ships,  and  assisted  him  in  collecting 
a  force  of  twelve  hundred  men. 

While  he  was  making  these  arrangements 
and  preparations  on  the  Continent,  Edward  and 
his  friends  had  also  opened  a  secret  communi- 
cation with  Clarence  in  England.  It  would,  of 
course,  very  much  weaken  the  cause  of  Edward 
and  Kichard  to  have  Clarence  against  them; 
so  Margaret,  the  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
interested  herself  in  endeavoring  to  win  him 
back  again  to  their  side.  She  had  herself  great 
influence  over  him,  and  she  was  assisted  in  her 
efforts  by  their  mother,  the  Lady  Cecily,  who 
was  still  living  in  the  neighborhood  of  London, 
and  who  was  greatly  grieved  at  Clarence's  hav- 
ing turned  against  his  brothers.  The  tie  which 
bound  Clarence  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick  was, 
of  course,  derived  chiefly  from  his  being  mar- 
ried to  Warwick's  daughter.  Warwick,  how- 


FALL  OF  LANCASTEE.          139 

Warwick's  plans  to  secure  Clarence. 

ever,  did  not  trust  wholly  to  this.  As  soon  as 
he  had  restored  Henry  to  the  throne,  he  con- 
trived a  cunning  plan  which  he  thought  would 
tend  to  bind  Clarence  still  more  strongly  to 
himself,  and  to  alienate  him  completely  from 
Edward.  This  plan  was  to  induce  the  Parlia- 
ment to  confiscate  all  Edward's  estates  and  con- 
fer them  upon  Clarence. 

"  Now,"  said  Warwick  to  himself,  when  this 
measure  had  been  accomplished,  "Clarence  will 
be  sure  to  oppose  Edward's  return  to  England, 
for  he  knows  very  well  that  if  he  should  return 
and  be  restored  to  the  throne,  he  would,  of 
course,  take  all  these  estates  back  again." 

But,  while  Edward  was  forming  his  plans  on 
the  Continent  for  a  fresh  invasion  of  England, 
Margaret  sent  messengers  to  Clarence,  and  their 
persuasions,  united  to  those  of  his  mother,  in- 
duced Clarence  to  change  his  mind.  He  was 
governed  by  no  principle  whatever  in  what  he 
did,  but  only  looked  to  see  what  would  most 
speedily  and  most  fully  gratify  his  ambition 
and  increase  his  wealth.  So,  when  they  argued 
that  it  would  be  much  better  for  him  to  be  on 
the  side  of  his  brothers,  and  assist  in  restoring 
his  own  branch  of  the  family  to  the  throne,  than 
to  continue  his  unnatural  connection  with  War- 
wick and  the  house  of  Lancaster,  he  allowed 


140  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Edward  and  Richard  sail  for  England. 

himself  to  be  easily  persuaded,  and  he  prom- 
ised that  though,  for  the  present,  he  should  re- 
main ostensibly  a  friend  of  Warwick,  still,  if 
Edward  and  Richard  would  raise  an  expedition 
and  come  to  England,  he  would  forsake  War- 
wick and  the  Lancasters,  and  join  them. 

Accordingly,  in  the  spring,  when  the  fleet 
and  the  forces  were  ready,  Edward  and  Richard 
set  sail  from  the  Low  Country  to  cross  the  Chan- 
nel. It  was  early  in  March.  They  intended 
to  proceed  to  the  north  of  England  and  land 
there.  They  had  a  very  stormy  passage,  and 
in  the  end  the  fleet  was  dispersed,  and  Edward 
and  Richard  with  great  difficulty  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  land.  The  two  brothers  were  in 
different  ships,  and  they  landed  in  different 
places,  a  few  miles  apart  from ,  each  other. 
Their  situation  was  now  extremely  critical,  for 
all  England  was  in  the  power  of  Warwick  and 
the  Lancastrians,  and  Edward  and  Richard  were 
almost  entirely  without  men. 

They,  however,  after  a  time,  got  together  a 
small  force,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  troops  who 
had  come  with  them,  and  who  had  succeeded 
at  last  in  making  their  way  to  the  land.  At 
the  head  of  this  force  they  advanced  into  the 
country  towardlne  city  of  York.  Edward  gave 
out  every  where  that  he  had  not  come  with  any 


A.D.  1471.]  FALL  OF  LANCASTER.       141 

Stratagems  of  war.  Reception  of  Edward  at  York. 

view  of  attempting  to  regain  possession  of  the 
throne,  but  only  to  recover  his  own  private  and 
family  estates,  which  had  been  unjustly  confis- 
cated, he  said,  and  conferred  upon  his  brother. 
He  acquiesced  entirely,  he  said,  in  the  restora- 
tion of  Henry  to  the  throne,  and  acknowledged 
him  as  king,  and  solemnly  declared  that  he 
would  not  do  any  thing  to  disturb  the  peace  of 
the  country. 

All  this  was  treacherous  and  false ;  but  Ed- 
ward and  Richard  thought  that  they  were  not 
yet  strong  enough  to  announce  openly  their 
real  designs,  and,  in  the  mean  time,  the  uttering 
of  any  false  declarations,  which  they  might  deem 
it  good  policy  to  make  was  to  be  considered  as 
a  stratagem  justified  by  usage,  as  one  of  the  le- 
gitimate resources  of  war. 

So  they  went  on,  nobody  opposing  them. 
They  reached,  at  length,  the  city  of  York. 
Here  Edward  met  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of 
the  city,  and  renewed  his  declaration,  which 
he  confirmed  by  a  solemn  oath,  that  he  never 
wo  aid  lay  any  claim  to  the  throne  of  England, 
or  do  any  thing  to  disturb  King  Henry  in  his 
possession  of  it.  He  cried  out,  in  a  loud  voice, 
in  the  hearing  of  the  people,  "  Long  live  King 
Henry,  and  Prince  Edward  his  son !"  He  wore 
an  ostrich  feather,  too,  in  his  armor,  which  was 


142  KlNCr    KlCIIARD    III. 

The  roses.  Public  opinion.  Warwick. 

the  badge  of  Prince  Edward.  The  people  of 
York  were  satisfied  with  these  protestations, 
and  allowed  him  to  proceed. 

His  force  was  continually  increasing  as  he 
advanced,  and  at  length,  on  crossing  the  River 
Trent,  he  came  to  a  part  of  the  country  where 
almost  the  whole  population  had  been  on  the 
side  of  York  during  all  the  previous  wars. 
He  began  now  to  throw  off  his  disguise,  and  to 
avow  more  openly  that  his  object  was  again  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  throne  for  the  house  of 
York.  His  troops  now  began  to  exhibit  the 
white  rose,  which  for  many  generations  had 
been  the  badge  of  the  house  of  York,  as  the 
red  rose  had  been  that  of  Lancaster.*  In  a 
word,  the  country  was  every  where  aroused  and 
excited  by  the  idea  that  another  revolution  was 
impending,  and  all  those  whose  ruling  principle 
it  was  to  be  always  with  the  party  that  was  up- 
permost began  to  make  preparations  for  com- 
ing over  to  Edward's  side. 

In  the  mean  time,  however,  Warwick,  alarm- 
ed, had  come  from  the  northward  to  London  to 
meet  the  invaders  at  the  head  of  a  strong  force. 

*  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  use  of  the  roses,  as  the 
badges  of  the  two  parties  respectively,  that  the  civil  wars 
between  these  two  -preat  families  are  often  called  in  history 
the  Wars  of  the  Roses. 


FALL  OF  LANCASTER.  143 

Position  of  Clarence.  His  double  dealing. 

Clarence  was  in  command  of  one  great  division 
of  this  force,  and  Warwick  himself  of  the  other. 
The  two  bodies  of  troops  marched  at  some  lit- 
tle distance  from  each  other.  Edward  shaped 
his  course  so  as  to  approach  that  commanded 
by  Clarence.  Warwick  did  all  he  could  to  pre- 
vent this,  being,  apparently,  somewhat  suspi- 
cious that  Clarence  was  not  fully  to  be  relied  on. 
But  Edward  succeeded,  by  dint  of  skillful  ma- 
noeuvring, in  accomplishing  his  object,  and  thus 
he  and  Clarence  came  into  the  neighborhood  of 
each  other.  The  respective  encampments  were 
only  three  miles  apart.  It  seems,  however,  that 
there  were  still  some  closing,  negotiations  to  be 
made  before  Clarence  was  fully  prepared  to 
take  the  momentous  step  that  was  now  before 
him.  Eichard  was  the  agent  of  these  negotia- 
tions. He  went  back  and  forth  between  the 
two  camps,  conveying  the  proposals  and  coun- 
ter-proposals from  one  party  to  the  other,  and 
doing  all  in  his  power  to  remove  obstacles  from 
the  way,  and  to  bring  his  brothers  to  an  agree- 
ment. At  last  every  thing  was  arranged.  Clar- 
ence ordered  his  men  to  display  the  white  rose 
upon  their  armor,  and  then,  with  trumpets 
sounding  and  banners  flying,  he  inarched  forth 
to  meet  Edward,  and  to  submit  himself  to  his 
command. 


144  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Clarence  goes  over  to  Edward's  Bide. 

When  the  column  which  he  led  arrived  near 
to  Edward's  camp,  it  halted,  and  Clarence  him- 
self, with  a  small  body  of  attendants,  advanced 
to  meet  his  brother  ;  Edward,  at  the  same  time, 
leaving  his  encampment,  in  company  with  Rich- 
ard and  several  noblemen,  came  forward  too. 
Thus  Edward  and  Clarence  met,  as  the  old  chron- 
icle expresses  it,  "  betwixt  both  hosts,  where 
was  right  kind  and  loving  language  betwixt 
them  two.  And  then,  in  like  wise,  spoke  to- 
gether the  two  Dukes  of  Clarence  and  Glouces- 
ter, and  afterward  the  other  noblemen  that  were 
there  with  them ;  whereof  all  the  people  that 
were  there  that  loved  them  were  right  glad  and 
joyous,  and  thanked  God  highly  for  that  joyous 
meeting,  unity  and  concord,  hoping  that  there- 
by should  grow  unto  them  prosperous  fortune 
in  all  that  they  should  after  that  have  to  do." 

Warwick  was,  of  course,  in  a  dreadful  rage 
when  he  learned  that  Clarence  had  betrayed 
him  and  gone  over  to  the  enemy.  He  could 
do  nothing,  however,  to  repair  the  mischief,  and 
he  was  altogether  too  weak  to  resist  the  two 
armies  now  combined  against  him  ;  so  he  drew 
back,  leaving  the  way  clear,  and  Edward,  at  the 
head  now  of  an  overwhelming  force,  and  ac- 
companied by  both  his  brothers,  advanced  di- 
rectly to  London. 


FALL  OF  LANCASTER.  145 

Edward  triumphant  Henry  again  sent  to  the  Tower. 

He  was  received  at  the  capital  with  great 
favor.  Whoever  was  uppermost  for  the  time 
being  was  always  received  with  favor  in  En- 
gland in  those  days,  both  in  the  capital  and 
throughout  the  country  at  large.  It  was  saidr 
however,  that  the  interest  in  Edward's  fortunes, 
and  in  the  succession  of  his  branch  of  the  fam- 
ily to  the  throne,  was  greatly  increased  at  this 
time  by  the  birth  of  his  son,  which  had  taken 
place  in  the  sanctuary,  as  related  in  the  last 
chapter,  soon  after  Queen  Elizabeth  sought  ref- 
uge there,  at  the  time  of  Edward's  expulsion 
from  the  kingdom.  Of  course,  the  first  thing 
which  Edward  did  after  making  his  public  en- 
try into  London  was  to  proceed  to  the  sanctu- 
ary to  rejoin  his  wife,  and  deliver  her  from  her 
duress,  and  also  to  see  his  new-born  son. 

Queen  Margaret  was  out  of  the  kingdom  at 
this  time,  being  on  a  visit  to  the  Continent. 
She  had  her  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  with  her ; 
but  Henry,  the  king,  was  in  London.  He,  of 
course,  fell  into  Edward's  hands,  and  was  im- 
mediately sent  back  a  prisoner  to  the  Tower. 

Edward  remained  only  a  day  or  two  in  Lon- 
don, and  then  set  off  again,  at  the  head  of  all 
his  troops,  to  meet  Warwick.  He  brought  out 
King  Henry  from  the  Tower,  and  took  him 
with  the  army  as  a  prisoner. 
9—10 


146  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Warwick  refuses  to  yield.  Preparations  for  a  batUe. 

Warwick  had  now  strengthened  himself  so 
far  that  he  was  prepared  for  battle.  The  two 
armies  approached  each  other  not  many  miles 
from  London.  Before  commencing  hostilities, 
Clarence  wished  for  an  opportunity  to  attempt 
a  reconciliation ;  he,  of  course,  felt  a  strong  de- 
sire to  make  peace,  if  possible,  for  his  situation, 
in  case  of  battle,  would  be  painful  in  the  ex- 
treme— his  brothers  on  one  side,  and  his  father- 
in-law  on  the  other,  and  he  himself  compelled 
to  fight  against  the  cause  which  he  had  aban- 
doned and  betrayed.  So  he  sent  a  messenger 
to  the  earl,  offering  to  act  as  mediator  between 
him  and  his  brother,  in  hopes  of  finding  some 
mode  of  arranging  the  quarrel ;  but  the  earl, 
instead  of  accepting  the  mediation,  sent  back 
only  invectives  and  defiance. 

"  Go  tell  your  master,"  he  said  to  the  messen- 
ger, "  that  Warwick  is  not  the  man  to  follow 
the  example  of  faithlessness  and  treason  which 
the.  false,  perjured  Clarence  has  set  him.  Un- 
like him,  I  stand  true  to  my  oath,  and  this  quar- 
rel can  only  .be  settled  by  the  sword." 

Of  course,  nothing  now  remained  but  to  fight 
the  battle,  and  a  most  desperate  and  bloody 
battle  it  was.  It  was  fought  upon  a  plain  at  a 
place  called  Barnet.  It  lasted  from  four  in  tb<* 
morning  till  ten. 


FALL  OF  LANCASTER.          149 

Edward  victorious.  Warwick  slain. 

Richard  came  forward  in  the  fight  in  a  very 
conspicuous  and  prominent  manner.  He  was 
now  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  this  was 
the  first  serious  battle  in  which  he  had  been  ac- 
tually engaged.  He  evinced  a  great  deal  of 
heroism,  and  won  great  praise  by  the  ardor  in 
which  he  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight, 
and  by  the  manner  in  which  he  conducted  him- 
self there.  The  squires  who  attended  him  were 
both  killed,  but  Richard  himself  remained  un- 
hurt. 

In  the  end,  Edward  was  victorious.  The 
quarrel  was  thus  decided  by  the  sword,  as  War- 
wick had  said,  and  decided,  so  far  as  the  earl 
was  concerned,  terribly  and  irrevocably,  for  he 
himself  was  unhorsed  upon  the  field,  and  slain. 
Many  thousands  of  soldiers  fell  on  each  side, 
and  great  numbers  of  the  leading  nobles.  The 
bodies  were  buried  in  one  common  trench, 
which  was  dug  for  the  purpose  on  the  plain, 
and  a  chapel  was  afterward  erected  over  them, 
to  mark  and  consecrate  the  spot. 

It  is  said  in  respect  to  King  Henry,  who  had 
been  taken  from  the  Tower  and  made  to  ac- 
company the  army  to  the  field,  that  Edward 
placed  him  in  the  midst  of  the  fight  at  Barnet, 
in  the  hope  that  he  might  in  this  way  be  slain, 
either  by  accident  or  design.  This  plan,  how- 


150         KING  Ki CHARD  III.  [A.D.1471. 

Kiug  Henry.  Margaret  and  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

ever,  if  it  were  formed,  did  not  succeed,  for 
Henry  escaped  unharmed,  and,  after  the  battle, 
was  taken  back  to  London,  and  again  conveyed 
through  the  gloomy  streets  of  the  lower  city  to 
his  solitary  prison  in  the  Tower.  The  streets 
were  filled,  after  he  had  passed,  with  groups  of 
men  of  all  ranks  and  stations,  discussing  the 
strange  and  mournful  vicissitudes  in  the  life  of 
this  hapless  monarch,  now  for  the  second  time 
cut  off  from  all  his  friends,  and  immured  hope- 
lessly in  a  dismal  dungeon. 

On  the  very  day  of  the  battle  of  Barnet, 
Queen  Margaret,  who  had  hastened  her  return 
to  England  on  hearing  of  Edward's  invasion, 
landed  at  Plymouth,  in  the  southwestern  part 
of  England.  The  young  Prince  of  Wales,  her 
son,  was  with  her.  When  she  heard  the  terri- 
ble tidings  of  the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Barnet 
and  the  death  of  Warwick,  she  was  struck  with 
consternation,  and  immediately  fled  to  an  ab- 
bey in  the  neighborhood  of  the  place  where 
she  had  landed,  and  took  sanctuary  there.  She 
soon,  however,  recovered  from  this  panic,  and 
came  forth  again.  She  put  herself,  with  her 
son,  at  the  head  of  the  French  troops  which  she 
had  brought  with  her,  and  collected  also  as 
many  more  as  she  could  induce  to  join  her,  and 
then,  marching  slowly  toward  the  northward, 


OTBKET  LEADING  TO  THE  TOWEK. 


FALL  OF  LANCASTER.          153 

Meeting  of  the  armies.  Two  boys  to  command. 

finally  took  a  strong  position  on  the  River  Sev- 
ern, near  the  town  of  Tewkesbury.  Tewkes- 
bury  is  in  the  western  part  of  England,  near 
the  frontiers  of  Wales. 

Edward,  having  received  intelligence  of  her 
movements,  collected  his  forces  also,  and,  ac- 
companied by  Clarence  and  Gloucester,  went 
forth  to  meet  her.  The  two  armies  met  about 
three  weeks  after  the  battle  of  Barnet,  in  which 
Warwick  was  killed.  All  the  flower  of  the 
English  nobility  were  there,  on  one  side  or  on 
the  other. 

Queen  Margaret's  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
was  now  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  his 
mother  placed  him  in  command — nominally  at 
the  head  of  the  army.  Edward,  on  his  side,  as- 
signed the  same  position  to  Richard,  who  was 
almost  precisely  of  the  same  age  with  the  Prince 
of  Wales.  Thus  the  great  and  terrible  battle 
which  ensued  was  fought,  as  it  were,  by  two 
boys,  cousins  to  each  other,  and  neither  of 
them  out  of  their  teens. 

The  operations  were,  however,  really  direct- 
ed by  older  and  more  experienced  men.  The 
chief  counselor  on  Margaret's  side  was  the 
Duke  of  Somerset.  Edward's  army  attempted, 
by  means  of  certain  evolutions,  to  entice  the 
queen's  army  out  of  their  camp.  Somerset 


154  KING  EICUARD  III. 


The  killing  of  Lord  \Vealock.  End  of  the  battle. 

wished  to  go,  and  he  commanded  the  men  to 
follow.  Some  followed,  but  others  remained 
behind.  Among  those  that  remained  behind 
was  a  body  of  men  under  the  command  of  a 
certain  Lord  "Wenlock.  Somerset  was  angry 
because  they  did  not  follow  him,  and  he  sus- 
pected, moreover,  that  Lord  Wenlock  was  in- 
tending to  betray  the  queen  and  go  over  to  the 
other  side ;  so  he  turned  back  in  a  rage,  and, 
coming  up  to  Lord  Wenlock,  struck  him  a 
dreadful  blow  upon  his  helmet  with  his  battle- 
axe,  and  killed  him  on  the  spot. 

In  the  midst  of  the  confusion  which  this  af- 
fair produced,  Richard,  at  the  head  of  his  broth- 
er's troops,  came  forcing  his  way  into  the  in- 
trenchments,  bearing  down  all  before  him. 
The  queen's  army  was  thrown  into  confusion, 
and  put  to  flight.  Thousands  upon  thousands 
were  killed.  As  many  as  could  save  them- 
selves from  being  slaughtered  upon  the  spot 
fled  into  the  country  toward  the  north,  pursued 
by  detached  parties  of  their  enemies. 

The  young  Prince  of  Wales  was  taken  pris- 
oner. The  queen  fled,  and  for  a  time  it  was 
not  known  what  had  become  of  her.  She  fled 
to  the  church  in  Tewkesbury,  and  took  refuge 
there. 

As  for  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  account  of 


FALL  OF  LANCASTER.          157 


Murder  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 


his  fate  which  was  given  at  the  time,  and  has 
generally  been  believed  since,  is  this  :  As  soon 
as  the  battle  was  over,  he  was  brought,  disarm- 
ed and  helpless,  into  King  Edward's  tent,  and 
there  Edward,  Clarence,  Gloucester,  and  oth- 
ers gathered  around  to  triumph  over  him,  and 
taunt  him  with  his  downfall.  Edward  came  up 
to  him,  and,  after  gazing  upon  him  a  moment 
in  a  fierce  and  defiant  manner,  demanded  of 
him,  in  a  furious  tone,  "  What  brought  him  to 
England?" 

"My  father's  crown  and  my  own  inherit- 
ance," replied  the  prince. 

Edward  uttered  some  exclamation  of  anger, 
and  then  struck  the  prince  upon  the  mouth 
with  his  gauntlet.* 

At  this  signal,  Gloucester,  and  the  others 
who  were  standing  by,  fell  upon  the  poor  help- 
less boy,  and  killed  him  on  the  spot.  The 
prince  cried  to  Clarence,  who  was  his  brother- 
in-law,  to  save  him,  but  in  vain ;  Clarence  did 
not  interfere. 

Some  of  the  modern  defenders  of  Richard's 
character  attempt  to  show  that  there  is  no  suf- 
ficient evidence  that  this  story  is  true,  and  they 

*  The  gauntlet  was  a  sort  of  iron  glove,  the  fingers  of 
which  were  made  flexible  by  joints  formed  with  scales  slid- 
\&r.  over  each  other- 


158  KING  EICIIAKD  III. 

The  queen's  refugo.  Kdward  in  the  churclu 

maintain  that  the  prince  was  slain  upon  the 
field,  after  the  battle,  and  that  Richard  was  in- 
nocent of  his  death.  The  evidence,  however, 
seems  strongly  against  this  last  supposition. 

Soon  after  the  battle,  it  was  found  that  the 
queen,  with  her  attendants,  as  has  already  been 
stated,  had  taken  refuge  in  a  church  at  Tewkas- 
bury,  and  in  other  sacred  structures  near. 

Edward  proceeded  directly  to  the  churck, 
with  the  intention  of  hunting  out  his  enemies 
wherever  he  could  find  them.  He  broke  into 
the  sacred  precincts,  sword  in  hand,  attended 
by  a  number  of  reckless  and  desperate  follow- 
ers, and  would  have  slain  those  that  had  taken 
refuge  there,  on  the  spot,  had  not  the  abbot 
himself  come  forward  and  interposed  to  protect 
them.  He  came  dressed  in  his  sacerdotal  robes, 
and  bearing  the  sacred  emblems  in  his  hands. 
These  emblems  he  held  up  before  the  infuriated 
Edward  as  a  token  6f  the  sanctity  of  the  place. 
By  these  means  the  king's  hand  was  stayed, 
and,  before  allowing  him  to  go  away,  the  abbot 
exacted  from  him  a  promise  that  he  would  mo- 
lest the  refugees  no  more. 

This  promise  was,  however,  not  made  to  be 
kept.  Two  days  afterward  Edward  appointed 
a  court-martialpand  sent  Richard,  with  an  armed 
force,  to  the  church,  to  take  all  the  men  that 


FALL  OF  LANCASTER.          161 

Margaret  taken.  Conducted  a  prisoner  to  London. 

had  sought  refuge  there,  and  bring  them  out  for 
trial.  The  trial  was  conducted  with  very  little 
ceremony,  and  the  men  were  all  beheaded  on 
the  green,  in  Tewkesbury,  that  very  day. 

Queen  Margaret  and  the  ladies  who  attend- 
ed her  were  not  with  them.  They  had  sought 
refuge  in  another  place.  They  were,  however, 
found  after  a  few  days,  and  were  all  brought 
prisoners  to  Edward's  camp  at  Coventry;  for, 
after  the  battle,  Edward  had  begun  to  move  on 
with  his  army  across  the  country. 

The  king's  first  idea  was  to  send  Margaret 
immediately  to  London  and  put  her  in  the  Tow- 
er ;  but,  before  he  did  this,  a  change  in  his  plans 
took  place,  which  led  him  to  decide  to  go  to 
London  himself.  So  he  took  Queen  Margaret 
with  him,  a  captive  in  his  train.  On  the  arri- 
val of  the  party  in  London,  the  queen  was  con- 
veyed at  once  to  the  Tower. 

Here  she  remained  a  close  prisoner  for  five 
long  and  weary  years,  and  was  then  ransomed 
by  the  King  of  France  and  taken  to  the  Con- 
tinent. She  lived  after  this  in  comparative  ob- 
scurity for  about  ten  years,  and  then  died. 

As  for  her  husband,  his  earthly  troubles  were 
brought  to  an  end  much  sooner.  The  cause  of 
the  change  of  plan  above  referred  to,  which  led 
Edward  to  go  directly  to  London  soon  after 

9—11 


162         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1471. 

Henry  is  put  to  death  in  the  Tower. 

the  battle  of  Tewkesbury,  was  the  news  that  a 
relative  of  Warwick,  whom  that  nobleman,  dur- 
ing his  life-time,  had  put  in  command  in  the 
southeastern  part  of  England,  had  raised  an  in- 
surrection there,  with  a  view  of  marching  to 
London,  rescuing  Henry  from  the  Tower,  and 
putting  him  upon  the  throne.  This  movement 
was  soon  put  down,  and  Edward  returned  from 
the  expedition  triumphant  to  London.  He  and 
his  brothers  spent  the  night  after  their  arrival 
in  the  Tower.  The  next  morning  King  Henry 
was  found  dead  in  his  bed. 

The  universal  belief  was  then,  and  has  been 
since,  that  he  was  put  to  death  by  Edward's  or- 
ders, and  it  has  been  the  general  opinion  that 
Richard  was  the  murderer. 

The  body  of  the  king  was  put  upon  a  bier 
that  same  day,  and  conveyed  to  St.  Paul's 
Church  in  London,  and  there  exhibited  to  the 
public  for  a  long  time,  with  guards  and  torch- 
bearers  surrounding  it.  An  immense  concourse 
of  people  came  to  view  his  remains.  The  ob- 
ject of  this  exposition  of  the  body  of  the  king 
was  to  make  sure  the  fact  of  his  death  in  the 
public  mind,  and  prevent  the  possibility  of  the 
circulation  of  rumors,  subsequently,  by  the  par- 
tisans of  his  house,  that  he  was  still  alive ;  for 
such  rumors  would  greatly  have  increased  the 


A.D.1471.]  FALL  OF  LANCASTER.       163 


Burial  of  Heiiry  VI. 


danger    of  any   insurrectionary   plans   which 
might  be  formed  against  Edward's  authority. 

In  due  time  the  body  was  interred  at  Wind- 
sor, and  a  sculptured  monument,  adorned  with 
various  arms  and  emblems,  was  erected  over 
the  tomb. 


11 


TOMB  OF   HENRY  VI. 


164         KING  KICHARD  III.  [A.D.1471. 

The  Lancastrian  party  completely  subdued. 

The  remaining  leaders  on  the  Lancaster  side 
were  disposed  of  in  a  very  effectual  manner,  to 
prevent  the  possibility  of  their  again  acquiring 
power.  Some  were  banished.  Others  were 
shut  up  in  various  castles  as  hopeless  prisoners. 
The  country  was  thus  wholly  subdued,  and  Ed- 
ward was  once  more  established  firmly  on  his 
throne, 


RICHARD'S  MARRIAGE.         165 


Characters  of  Clarence  and  Richard. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
EICHARD'S  MARRIAGE. 

WHEN  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  were 
settled,  after  the  return  of  King  Edward 
to  the  throne,  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  the 
subject  of  the  present  volume,  was  found  occu- 
pying a  very  exalted  and  brilliant  position.  It 
is  true,  he  was  yet  very  young,  being  only  about 
nineteen  years  of  age,  and  by  birth  he  was  sec- 
ond to  Clarence,  Clarence  being  his  older  broth- 
er. But  Clarence  had  been  so  wavering  and 
vacillating,  having  changed  sides  so  often  in 
the  great  quarrels,  that  no  confidence  was 
placed  in  him  now  on  either  side.  Richard, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  steadily  adhered  to  his 
brother  Edward's  cause.  He  had  shared  all 
his  brother's  reverses,  and  he  had  rendered  him 
most  valuable  and  efficient  aid  in  all  the  battles 
which  he  had  fought,  and  had  contributed  es- 
sentially to  his  success  in  all  the  victories  which 
he  had  gained.  Of  course,  now,  .Edward  and 
his  friends  had  great  confidence  in  Richard, 
while  Clarence  was  looked  upon  with  suspicion 
and  distrust. 


166         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.U71. 

Embarrassing  situation  in  which  Clarence  was  placed. 

Clarence,  it  is  true,  had  one  excuse  for  his 
instability,  which  Eichard  had  not ;  for  Clar- 
ence, having  married  the  Earl  of  Warwick's 
daughter,  was,  of  course,  brought  into  very 
close  connection  with  the  earl,  and  was  subject- 
ed greatly  to  his  influence.  Accordingly,  what- 
ever course  Warwick  decided  to  take,  it  was 
extremely  difficult  for  Clarence  to  avoid  join- 
ing him  in  it;  and  when  at  length  Warwick 
arranged  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  Anne 
with  the  Prince  of  Wales,  King  Henry's  son, 
and  so  joined  himself  to  the  Lancaster  party, 
Clarence  was  placed  between  two  strong  and 
contrary  attractions — his  attachment  to  his 
brother,  and  his  natural  interest  in  the  advance- 
ment of  his  own  family  being  on  one  side,  and 
his  love  for  his  wife,  and  the  great  influence 
and  ascendency  exerted  over  his  mind  by  his 
father-in-law  being  on  the  other. 

Richard  was  in  no  such  strait  There  was 
nothing  to  entice  him  away  from  his  fidelity  to 
his  brother,  so  he  remained  true. 

He  had  been  so  brave  and  efficient,  too,  in 
the  military  operations  connected  with  Edward's 
recovery  of  the  throne,  that  he  had  acquired 
great  renown  as  a  soldier  throughout  the  king- 
dom. The  fame  of  his  exploits  was  the  more 
brilliant  on  account  of  his  youth.  It  was  con- 


A.D.1471.]  RICHARD'S  MARRIAGE.    167 

Richard  made  Lord  High  Admiral  of  Fnglaud. 


siderecl  remarkable  that  a  young  man  not  jet 
out  of  his  teens  should  show  so  much  skill, 
and  act  with  so  much  resolution  and  energy  in 
times  so  trying,  and  the  country  resounded 
with  his  praises. 

As  soon  as  Edward  was  established  on  the 
throne,  he  raised  Richard  to  what  was  in  tnose 
days,  perhaps,  the  highest  office  under  the 
crown,  that  of  Lord  High  Admiral  of  England. 
This  was  the  office  which  the  Earl  of  Warwick 
had  held,  and  to  which  a  great  portion  of  the 
power  and  influence  which  he  exercised  was 
owing.  The  Lord  High  Admiral  had  command 
of  the  navy,  and  of  the  principal  ports  on  both 
sides  of  the  English  Channel,  so  long  as  any 
ports  on  the  French  side  remained  in  English 
hands.  The  reader  will  recollect,  perhaps,  that 
while  Richard  was  quite  a  small  boy,  his  moth- 
er was  compelled  to  fly  with  him  and  his  little 
brother  George  to  France,  to  escape  from  the 
enemies  of  the  family,  at  the  time  of  his  father's 
death,  and  that  it  was  through  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick's co-operation  that  she  was  enabled  to  ac- 
complish this  flight.  Now  it  was  in  conse- 
quence of  Warwick's  being  at  that  time  Lord 
High  Admiral  of  England,  and  his  having  com- 
mand of  Calais,  and  the  waters  between  Calais 
and  England,  that  he  could  make  arrangements 


168  KING  KICHARD  III. 

His  real  character.  Requisites  of  a  good  soldier. 

to  assist  Lady  Cecily  so  effectually  on  that  oc- 
casion. 

Still,  Richard,  though  universally  applauded 
for  his  military  courage  and  energy,  was  known 
to  all  who  had  opportunities  of  becoming  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  him  to  be  a  bad  man. 
He  was  unprincipled,  hard-hearted,  and  reck- 
less. This,  however,  did  not  detract  from  his 
military  fame.  Indeed,  depravity  of  private 
character  seldom  diminishes  much  the  applause 
which  a  nation  bestows  upon  those  who  acquire 
military  renown  in  their  service.  It  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  it  should.  Military  exploits 
have  been,  in  fact,  generally,  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  gigantic  crimes,  committed  by  reck- 
less and  remorseless  men  for  the  benefit  of  oth- 
ers, who,  though  they  would  be  deterred  by 
their  scruples  of  conscience  or  their  moral  sen- 
sibilities from  perpetrating  such  deeds  them- 
selves, are  ready  to  repay,  with  the  most  ex- 
travagant honors  and  rewards,  those  who  are 
ferocious  and  unscrupulous  enough  to  perpe- 
trate them  in  their  stead.  Were  it  not  for  some 
very  few  and  rare  exceptions  to  the  general 
rule,  which  have  from  time  to  time  appeared, 
the  history  of  mankind  would  show  that,  to  be 
a  good  soldier,  it  is  almost  absolutely  essential  to 
be  a  bad  man. 


KICHARD'S  MARRIAGE.         169 


Young  Edward  formally  acknowledged  heir  to  the  crown. 


The  child,  Prince  Edward,  the  son  of  Edward 
the  Fourth,  who  was  born,  as  is  related  in  a 
preceding  chapter,  in  the  sanctuary  at  West- 
minster, whither  his  mother  had  fled  at  the  time 
when  Edward  was  expelled  from  the  kingdom, 
was,  of  course,  King  Edward's  heir.  He  was 
now  less  than  a  year  old,  and,  in  order  to  place 
his  title  to  the  crown  beyond  dispute,  a  solemn 
oath  was  required  from  all  the  leading  nobles 
and  officers  of  Edward's  government,  that  in 
case  he  survived  his  father  they  would  acknowl- 
edge him  as  king.  The  following  is  the  form 
of  the  oath  which  was  taken : 

fi  acfcnotoletofle,  tafte,  anto  repute  sou,  iStotoarto,  $rfnce 
»{  JMFales,  Dufce  of  (Eorntoajll,  anto  35rl  of  ffiijestre, 
furste  bejjoten  son  of  oure  soberefflne  lotto,  as  to  tfte  co« 
rones  anto  reames  of  Unjjlanto  anto  of  JFrance,  anto  lorto= 
»i)fj)  of  firelanto ;  anti  promette  anti  stoere  tfjat  fn  case 
Hereafter  ft  fiappcn  sou  fcj>  (ffifotr&fs  Trisjiosftfon  too  out* 
Ifbe  our  soberefflne  lorto,  K  sftall  tfjen  tafte  anto  accept  jou 
for  true,  berag  anto  rffllJteous  Sfng  of  ISnglanto,  anto  of 
JFrance,  anto  of  Krelanto  ;  anto  fefti&  anto  troutft  to  sou 
sfjall  bere,  anto  j>n  all  ttgnas  truelg  anto  feftijfullg  be* 
fiabe  me  totoartoes  gou  anto  joure  Jejres,  as  a  true  anto 
feCtftful  subfect  otoett)  to  tetabeijfintotfs  soberefflne  lorto 
anto  rffltjtffjs  ^fnfl  of  fSnjjlanto,  JFrance,  anto  JJrelanto  ; 
so  jjelp  me  ®foto,  anto  ®olftoome,  anto  tjfs  Jjolg  Ubanae* 
Ifst. 

Eichard  took  this  oath  with  the  rest.  How 
lie  kept  it  will  hereafter  appear. 


170  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Forlorn  condition  of  Lady  Anne, 

The  Lady  Anne,  the  second  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Warwick,  who  had  been  betrothed  to 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  King  Henry's  son,  was 
left,  by  the  fall  of  the  house  of  Lancaster  and 
the  re-establishment  of  King  Edward  the  Fourth 
upon  the  throne,  in  a  most  forlorn  and  pitiable 
condition.  Her  father,  the  earl,  was  dead,  hav- 
ing been  killed  in  battle.  Her  betrothed  hus- 
band, too,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  with  whom  she 
had  fondly  hoped  one  day  to  sit  on  the  throne 
of  England,  had  been  cruelly  assassinated. 
Queen  Margaret,  the  mother  of  the  prince,  who 
might  have  been  expected  to  take  an  interest 
in  her  fate,  was  a  helpless  prisoner  in  the  Tow- 
er. And  if  the  fallen  queen  had  been  at  liber- 
ty, it  is  very  probable  that  all  her  interest  in 
Anne  would  prove  to  have  been  extinguished 
by  the  death  of  her  son ;  for  Queen  Margaret 
had  never  felt  any  personal  preference  for  Anne, 
and  had  only  consented  to  the  marriage  very 
reluctantly,  and  from  political  considerations 
alone.  The  friends  and  connections  of  her  fa- 
ther's family,  a  short  time  since  so  exalted  in 
station  and  so  powerful,  were  now  scattered 
and  destroyed.  Some  had  been  killed  in  bat- 
tle, others  beheaded  by  executioners,  others 
banished  from  the  realm.  The  rest  were  roam- 
ing about  England  in  terror  and  distress,  house- 


A.D.  1471.]  RICHARD'S  MARRIAGE.    171 

Her  sister  Isabella.  Clarence's  views  in  respect  to  the  property. 

less,  homeless,  friendless,  and  only  intent  to  find 
some  hiding-place  where  they  might  screen 
themselves  from  Edward's  power  and  venge- 
ance, • 

There  was  one  exception,  indeed,  the  Lady 
Isabella,  Clarence's  wife,  who,  as  the  reader  will 
recollect,  was  Warwick's  oldest  daughter,  and, 
of  course,  the  sister  of  Lady  Anne.  She  and 
Clarence,  her  husband,  it  might  be  supposed, 
would  take  an  interest  in  Lady  Anne's  fate. 
Indeed,  Clarence  did  take  an  interest  in  it,  but, 
unfortunately,  the  interest  was  of  the  wrong 
kind. 

The  Earl  of  Warwick  had  been  immensely 
wealthy.  Besides  the  ancient  stronghold  of  the 
family,  Warwick  Castle,  one  of  the  most  re- 
nowned old  feudal  fortresses  in  England,  he 
owned  many  other  castles,  and  many  large  es- 
tates, and  rights  of  property  of  various  kinds 
all  over  the  kingdom.  Now  Clarence,  ^after 
Warwick's  death,  had  taken  most  of  this  prop- 
erty into  his  own  hands  as  the  husband  of  the 
earl's  oldest  daughter,  and  he  wished  to  keep 
it.  This  he  could  easily  do  while  Anne  re- 
mained in  her  present  friendless  and  helpless 
condition.  But  he  knew  very  well  that  if  she 
were  to  be  married  to  any  person  of  rank  and 
influence  on  the  York  side,  her  husband  would 


172  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Richard' 8  plan.  His  early  acquaintance  with  Anne. 

insist  on  a  division  of  the  property.  Now  he 
suspected  that  his  brother  Richard  had  con- 
ceived the  design  of  marrying  her.'  He  accord- 
ingly set  himself  at  work  earnestly  to  thwart 
this  design. 

It  was  true  that  Richard  had  conceived  the 
idea  of  making  Anne  his  wife,  from  the  mo- 
tive, however,  solely,  as  it  would  seem,  to  ob- 
tain her  share  of  her  father's  property. 

Richard  had  been  acquainted  with  Anne  from 
her  childhood.  Indeed,  he  was  related  to  the 
family  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick  on  his  mother's 
side.  His  mother,  Lady  Cecily  Neville,  belong- 
ed to  the  same  great  family  of  Neville  from 
which  the  Warwicks  sprung.  Warwick  had 
been  a  great  friend  of  Lady  Cecily  in  former 
years,  and  it  is  even  supposed  that  when  Rich- 
ard and  his  brother  George  were  brought  back 
from  the  Continent,  at  the  time  when  Edward 
first  obtained  possession  of  the  kingdom,  they 
lived  for  a  time  in  Warwick's  family  at  Mid- 
dleham  Castle.*  This  is  not  quite  certainly 
known,  but  it  is  at  any  rate  known  that  Rich- 
ard and  Anne  knew  each  other  well  when  they 
were  children,  and  were  often  together. 

There  is  an  account  of  a  grand  entertainment 

*  For  a  view  of  this  castle,  and  the  grounds  pertaining  to 
it,  see  page  180. 


RICHARD'S  MARRIAGE.         173 

The  banquet  at  the  archbishop's. 

which  was  given  by  the  Warwick  family  at 
York,  some  years  before,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  enthroning  of  the  earl's  brother  George  as 
Archbishop  of  York,  at  which  Richard  was 
present.  Richard,  being  a  prince  of  the  blood 
royal,  was,  of  course,  a  very  highly  honored 
guest,  notwithstanding  that  he  was  but  a  child. 
So  they  prepared  for  him  and  some  few  oth- 
er great  personages  a  raised  platform,  called  a 
dais,  at  one  end  of  the  banquet-hall,  with  a  roy- 
al canopy  over  it.  The  table  for  the  distin- 
guished personages  was  upon  this  dais,  while 
those  for  the  other  guests  extended  up  and 
down  the  hall  below.  Richard  was  seated  at 
the  centre  of  the  table  of  honor,  with  a  countess 
on  one  side  of  him  and  a  duchess  on  the  other. 
Opposite  to  him,  at  the  same  table,  were  seated 
Isabella  and  Anne.  Anne  was  at  this  time 
about  twelve  years  old. 

Now  it  is  supposed  that  Isabella  and  Anne 
were  placed  at  this  table  to  please  Richard,  for 
their  mother,  who  was,  of  course,  entitled  to 
take  precedence  of  them,  had  her  seat  at  one  of 
the  large  tables  below. 

From  this  and  some  other  similar  indica- 
tions, it  is  supposed  that  Richard  took  a  fancy 
to  Anne  while  they  were  quite  young,  as  Clar- 
ence did  to  Isabella.  Indeed,  one  of  the  ancient 


174  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Clarence  conceals  Lady  Anne. 

writers  says  that  Richard  wished,  at  this  early 
period,  to  choose  her  for  his  wife,  but  that  she 
did  not  like  him. 

At  any  rate,  now,  after  the  re-establishment 
of  his  brother  upon  the  throne,  and  his  own  ex- 
altation to  such  high  office  under  him,  he  de- 
termined that  he  would  marry  Anne.  Clar- 
ence, on  the  other  hand,  determined  that  he 
should  not  marry  her.  So  Clarence,  with  the 
pretense  of  taking  her  under  his  protection, 
seized  her,  and  carried  her  away  to  a  place  of 
concealment,  where  he  kept  her  closely  shut 
up.  Anne  consented  to  this,  for  she  wished  to 
keep  out  of  Richard's  way.  Richard's  person 
was  disagreeable  to  her,  and  his  character  was 
hateful.  She  seems  to  have  considered  him,  as 
he  is  generally  represented  by  the  writers  of 
those  times,  as'  a  rude,  hard-hearted,  and  un- 
scrupulous man ;  and  she  had  also  a  special  rea- 
son for  shrinking  from  him  with  horror,  as  the 
mortal  enemy  of  her  father,  and  the  reputed 
murderer  of  the  husband  to  whom  she  had  been 
betrothed.  « 

Clarence  kept  her  for  some  time  in  obscure 
places  of  concealment,  changing  the  place  from 
time  to  time  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  Richard, 
who  was  continually  making  search  for  her. 
The  poor  princess  had  recourse  to  all  manner 


A.D.1471.]  RICHARD'S  MARRIAGE.    175 

Richard  finds  her  at  laat.      ____ li  is  marriage. 

of  contrivances,  and  assumed  the  most  humble 
disguises  to  keep  herself  concealed,  and  was  at 
last  reduced  to  a  very  forlorn  and  destitute  con- 
dition, through  the  desperate  shifts  that  she  re- 
sorted to,  in  her  endeavors  to  escape  Richard's 
persecutions.  All  was,  however,  in  vain.  Rich- 
ard discovered  her  at  last  in  a  mean  house  in 
London,  where  she  was  living  in  the  disguise 
of  a  servant.  He  immediately  seized  her,  and 
conveyed  her  to  a  place  of  security  which  was 
under  his  control. 

Soon  after  this  she  was  taken  away  from  this 
place  and  conveyed  to  York,  arfd  placed,  for 
the  time,  under  the  protection  of  the  archbishop 
— the  same  archbishop  at  whose  enthronement, 
eight  or  ten  years  before,  she  had  sat  at  the 
same  table  with  Richard,  under  the  royal  can- 
opy. But  she  was  not  left  at  peace  here.  Rich- 
ard insisted  on  her  marrying  him.  She  insist- 
ed on  her  refusal.  Her  friends — the  few  that 
she  had  left — turned  against  her,  and  urged  her 
to  consent  to  the  union ;  but  she  could  not  en- 
dure the  thought  of  it. 

Richard,  however,  persisted  in  his  determina- 
tion, and  Anne  was  finally  overcome.  It  is  said 
she  resisted  to  the  last,  and  that  the  ceremony 
was  performed  by  compulsion,  Anne  continuing 
to  refuse  her  consent  to  the  end.  It  was  fore- 


176 


KING  RICHARD  III. 


Measures  for  securing  the  property. 


KICUAKD   III. 


seen  that,  as  soon  as  any  change  of  circum- 
stances should  enable  her  to  resume  active  re- 
sistance to  the  union,  she  would  repudiate  the 
marriage  altogether,  as  void  for  want  of  her 
consent,  or  else  obtain  a  divorce.  To  guard 
against  this  danger,  Richard  procured  the  pas- 
sage of  an  act  of  Parliament,  by  which  he  was 
empowered  to-  continue  in  the  full  possession 
and  enjoyment  of  Anne's  property,  even  if  she 


RICHARD'S  MARRIAGE. 


177 


Difficulty  about  the  division  of  the  property. 


QUEEN   ANNE. 


were  to  divorce  him,  provided  that  tie  did  his  best 
to  be  reconciled  to  her,  and  was  willing  to  be 
re-married  to  her,  with  her  consent,  whenever 
she  was  willing  to  grant  it. 

As  for  Richard  himself,  his  object  was  fully 
attained  by  the  accomplishment  of  a  marriage 
so  far  acknowledged  as  to  entitle  him  to  the 
possession  of  the  property  of  his  wife.  There 
was  still  some  difficulty,  however,  arising  from 
a  disagreement  between  Richard  and  Clarence 
in  respect  to  the  division.  Clarence,  when  he 

9—12 


178         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1474. 

The  quarrel  becomes  serious.  It  is  at  last  settled  by  the  king. 

found  that  Richard  would  marry  Anne,  in  spite 
of  all  that  he  could  do  to  prevent  it,  declared, 
with  an  oath,  that,  even  if  Richard  did  marry 
her,  he,  Clarence,  would  never  "  part  the  liveli- 
hood," that  is,  divide  the  property  with  him. 

So  fixed  was  Clarence  in  this  resolution  to 
retain  all  the  property  himself,  and  so  resolute 
was  Richard,  on  the  other  hand,  in  his  determ- 
ination to  have  his  share,  that  the  quarrel  very 
soon  assumed  a  very  serious  character.  The 
lords  and  nobles  of  the  court  took  part  in  the 
controversy  on  one  side  and  on  the  other,  un- 
til, at  length,  there  was  imminent  danger  of 
open  war.  Finally  Edward  himself  interposed, 
and  summoned  the  brothers  to  appear  before 
him  in  open  council,  when,  after  a  full  hearing 
of  the  dispute,  he  said  that  he  himself  would 
decide  the  question.  Accordingly,  the  two 
brothers  appeared  before  the  king,  and  each 
strenuously  argued  his  own  cause.  The  king, 
after  hearing  them,  decided  how  the  property 
should  be  divided.  He  gave  to  Richard  and 
Anne  a  large  share,  but  not  all  that  Richard 
claimed.  Richard  was,  however,  compelled  to 
submit. 

"When  the  marriage  was  thus  consummated, 
and  Richard  had  been  put  in  possession  of  hi3 
portion  of  the  property,  Anne  seems  to  have 


A.D.1474.]  RICHARD'S  MARRIAGE.    181 

Richard's  child  is  born.  Anne  becomes  more  contented. 


submitted  to  her  fate,  and  she  went  with  Rich- 
ard to  Middleham  Castle,  in  the  north  of  En- 
gland. This  castle  was  one  which  had  belong- 
ed to  the  Warwick  family,  and  it  now  came 
into  Richard's  possession.  Richard  did  not, 
however,  remain  long  here  with  his  wife.  He 
went  away  on  various  military  expeditions, 
leaving  Anne  most  of  the  time  alone.  She 
was  well  contented  to  be  thus  left,  for  nothing 
could  be  so  welcome  to  her  now  as  to  be  re- 
lieved as  much  as.  possible  from  the  presence  of 
her  hateful  husband. 

This  state  of  things  continued,  without  much 
change,  until  the  end  of  about  a  year  after  her 
marriage,  when  Anne  gave  birth  to  a  son.  The 
boy  was  named  Edward.  The  possession  of 
this  treasure  awakened  in  the  breast  of  Anne 
a  new  interest  in  life,  and  repaid  her,  in  some 
measure,  for  the  sorrows  and  sufferings  which 
she  had  so  long  endured. 

Her  love  for  her  babe,  in  fact,  awakened  in 
her  heart  something  like  a  tie  to  bind  her  to 
her  husband.  It  is  hard  for  a  mother  to  con 
tinue  long  to  hate  the  father  of  her  child. 


182  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Kichard's  high  position.  His  character 


CHAPTER  IX. 
END  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  EDWARD. 

KING  EDWARD  reigned,  after  this  time, 
for  about  eight  years.  During  this  pe- 
riod, Richard  continued  to  occupy  a  very  high 
official  position,  and  a  very  conspicuous  place 
in  the  public  mind.  He  was.  generally  consid- 
ered as  personally  a  very  bad  man,  and,  when- 
ever any  great  public  crime  was  committed,  in 
which  the  government  were  implicated  at  all, 
it  was  Richard,  usually,  who  was  supposed  to 
be  chiefly  instrumental  in  the  perpetration  of 
it ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  his  fame,  and  the 
general  consideration  in  which  he  was  held, 
were  very  high.  This  was  owing,  in  a  consid- 
erable degree,  to  his  military  renown,  and  the 
straightforward  energy  and  decision  which  char 
acterized  all  his  doings. 

He  generally  co-operated  very  faitnfully  in 
all  Edward's  plans  and  schemes,  though  some- 
times, when  he  thought  them  calculated  to  im- 
pede rather  than  promote  the  interests  of  the 
kingdom  and  The  aggrandizement  of  the  family, 
he  made  no  secret  of  opposing  them.  As  to 


1475.]    EDWARD'S  EEIGN  ENDS.        183 


Edward's  plan  for  the  invasion  of  !•' ranee. 

Clarence,  no  one  placed  any  trust  or  confidence 
in  him  whatever.  For  a  time,  he  and  Edward 
were  ostensibly  on  friendly  terms  with  each 
other,  but  there  was  no  cordial  good-will  be- 
tween them.  Each  watched  the  other  with 
continual  suspicion  and  distrust. 

About  the  year  1475,  Edward  formed  a  grand 
scheme  for  the  invasion  of  France,  in  order  to 
recover  from  the  French  king  certain  posses- 
sions which  Edward  claimed,  on  the  ground  of 
their  having  formerly  belonged  to  his  ances- 
tors. This  plan,  as,  indeed,  almost  all  plans  of 
war  and  conquest  were  in  those  days,  was  very 
popular  in  England,  and  arrangements  were 
made  on  an  immense  scale  for  fitting  out  an 
expedition.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who,  as 
will  be  recollected,  had  married  Edward's  sis- 
ter, promised  to  join  the  English  in  this  pro- 
posed war.  When  all  was  ready,  the  English 
army  set  sail,  and  crossed  over  to  Calais.  Ed- 
ward went  with  the  army  as  commander-in- 
chief.  He  was  accompanied  by  Clarence  and 
Gloucester.  Thus  far  every  thing  had  gone 
on  well,  and  all  Europe  was  watching  with 
great  interest  for  the  result  of  the  expedition ; 
but,  very  soon  after  landing,  great  difficulties 
arose.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy  and  Edward 
disagreed,  and  this  disagreement  caused  great 


184         KING  KICHARD  III.  [A.D.1475. 


Character  of  King  Louie. 


delays.  The  army  advanced  slowly  toward 
the  French  frontier,  but  for  two  months  noth- 
ing effectual  was  done. 

In  the  mean  time,  Louis,  the  King  of  France, 


LOUIS   Xt.    OF   FRANCE. 


who  was  a  very  shrewd  and  wily  man,  conclu- 
ded that  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  buy  off 
his  enemies  than  to  fight  them.  So  he  contin- 
ually sent  messengers  and  negotiators  to  Ed- 
ward's camp  with  proposals  of  various  sorts, 
made  to  gain  time,  in  order  to  enable  him,  by 


EDWARD'S  KEIGN  ENDS.        185 

Louis's  wily  management  Treaty  proposed. 

means  of  presents  and  bribes,  to  buy  up  all  the 
prominent  leaders  and  counselors  of  the  expe- 
dition. He  gave  secretly  to  all  the  men  who 
he  supposed  held  an  influence  over  Edward's 
mind,  large  sums  of  money.  He  offered,  too,  to 
make  a  treaty  with  Edward,  by  which,  under 
one  pretext  or  another,  he  was  to  pay  him  a 
great  deal  of  money.  One  of  these  proposed 
payments  was  that  of  a  large  sum  for  the  ran- 
sorn  of  Queen  Margaret,  as  mentioned  in  a  pre- 
ceding chapter.  The  amount  of  the  ransom 
money  which  he  proposed  was  fifty  thousand 
crowns. 

Besides  these  promises  to  pay  money  in  case 
the  treaty  was  concluded,  Louis  made  many 
rich  and  valuable  presents  at  once.  One  day, 
while  the  negotiations  were  pending,  he  sent 
over  to  the  English  camp,  as  a  gift  to  the  king, 
three  hundred  cart-loads  of  wine,  the  best  that 
could  be  procured  in  the  kingdom. 

At  one  time,  near  the  beginning  of  the  affair, 
when  a  herald  was  sent  to  Louis  from  Edward 
with  a  very  defiant  and  insolent  message,  Lou- 
is, instead  of  resenting  the  message  as  an  affront, 
entertained  the  herald  with  great  politeness, 
held  a  long  and  friendly  conversation  with  him, 
and  finally  sent  him  away  with  three  hundred 
crowns  in  his  purse,  and  a  promise  of  a  thou- 


186  KING  RICHARD  III. 


Arrangements  made  for  a  personal  interview. 


sand  more  as  soon  as  a  peace  should  be  con- 
cluded. He  also  made  him  a  present  of  a  piece 
of  crimson  velvet  "  thirty  ells  long."  Such  a 
gift  as  this  of  the  crimson  velvet  was  calculated, 
perhaps,  in  those  days  of  military  foppery,  to 
please  the  herald  even  more  'than  the  money. 

These  things,  of  course,  put  Edward  and 
nearly  all  his  followers  in  excellent  humor,  and 
disposed  them  to  listen  very  favorably  to  any 
propositions  for  settling  the  quarrel  which  Lou- 
is might  be  disposed  to  make.  At  last,  after 
various  and  long  protracted  negotiations,  a 
treaty  was  agreed  upon,  and  Louis  proposed 
that  at  the  final  execution  of  it  he  and  Edward 
should  have  a  personal  interview. 

Edward  acceded  to  this  on  certain  conditions, 
and  the  circumstances  under  which  the  inter- 
view took  place,  and  the  arrangements  which 
were  adopted  on  the  occasion,  make  it  one  of 
the  most  curious  transactions  of  the  whole  reign. 

It  seems  that  Edward  could  not  place  the 
least  trust  in  Louis's  professions  of  friendship, 
and  did  not  dare  to  meet  him  without  requir- 
ing beforehand  most  extraordinary  precautions 
to  guard  against  the  possibility  of  treachery. 
So  it  was  agreed  that  the  meeting  should  take 
place  upon  a  bridge,  Louis  and  his  friends  to 
come  in  upon  one  side  of  the  bridge,  and  Ed- 


EDWARD'S  REIGN  ENDS.        187 

The  grating  on  the  bridge. 

ward,  with  his  party,  on  the  other.  In  order 
to  prevent  either  party  from  seizing  and  carry- 
ing off  the  other,  there  was  a  strong  barricade 
of  wood  built  across  the  bridge  in  the  middle 
of  it,  and  the  arrangement  was  for  the  King  of 
France  to  come  up  to  this  barricade  on  one  side, 
and  the  King  of  England  on  the  other,  and  so 
shake  hands  and  communicate  with  each  other 
through  the  bars  of  the  barricade. 

The  place  where  this  most  extraordinary  roy- 
al meeting  was  held  was  called  Picquigny,  and 
the  treaty  which  was  made  there  is  known  in 
history  as  the  Treaty  of  Picquigny.  The  town 
is  on  the  River  Somme,  near  the  city  of  Ami- 
ens. Amiens  was  at  that  time  very  near  the 
French  frontier. 

The  day  appointed  for  the  meeting  was  the 
29th  of  August,  1475.  The  barricade  was  pre- 
pared. It  was  made  of  strong  bars^  crossing 
each  other  so  as  to  form  a  grating,  such  as  was 
used  in  those  days  to  make  the  cages  of  bears, 
and  lions,  and  other  wild  beasts.  The  spaces 
between  the  bars  were  only  large  enough  to  al- 
low a  man's  arm  to  pass  through. 

The  King  of  France  went  first  to  the  grating, 
advancing,  of  course,  from  the  French  side.  He 
was  accompanied  by  ten  or  twelve  attendants, 
all  men  of  high  rank  and  station.  He  was  very 


188  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Meeting  of  the  kings  at  the  grating. 

splendidly  dressed  for  the  occasion.  The  dress 
was  made  of  cloth  of  gold,  with  a  large  fleur  da 
lis — which  was  at  that  time  the  emblem  of  the 
French  sovereignty  —  magnificently  worked 
upon  it  in  precious  stones. 

When  Louis  and  his  party  had  reached  the 
barricade,  Edward,  attended  likewise  by  his 
friends,  approached  on  the  other  side.  When 
they  came  to  the  barricade,  the  two  kings  greet- 
ed each  other  with  many  bows  and  other  saluta- 
tions, and  they  also  shook  hands  with  each  other 
by  reaching  through  the  grating.  The  King 
of  France  addressed  Edward  in  a  very  polite 
and  courteous  manner.  "  Cousin,"  said  he, 
"  you  are  right  welcome.  There  is  no  person 
living  that  I  have  been  so  ambitious  of  seeing 
as  you,  and  God  be  thanked  that  our  interview 
now  is  on  so  happy  an  occasion." 

After  these  preliminary  salutations  and  cere- 
monies had  been  concluded,  a  prayer-book,  or 
missal,  as  it  was  called,  and  a  crucifix,  were 
brought  forward,  and  held  at  the  grating  where 
both  kings  could  touch  them.  Each  of  the 
kings  then  put  his  hands  upon  them — one  hand 
on  the  crucifix  and  the  other  on  the  missal— 
and  they  both  took  a  solemn  oath  by  these 
sacred  emblems- that  they  would  faithfully  keep 
the  treaty  which  they  had  made. 


EDWARD'S  REIGN  ENDS.        189 

Jocose  conversation  of  the  two  kings. 

After  thus  transacting  the  business  which  had 
brought  them  together,  the  two  kings  conversed 
with  each  other  in  a  gay  and  merry  manner  for 
some  time.  The  King  of  France  invited  Ed- 
ward to  come  to  Paris  and  make  him  a  visit. 
This,  of  course,  was  a  joke,  for  Edward  would 
as  soon  think  of  accepting  an  invitation  from  a 
lion  to  come  and  visit  him  in  his  den,  as  of  put- 
ting himself  in  Louis's  power  by  going  to  Paris. 
Both  monarchs  and  all  the  attendants  laughed 
merrily  at  this  jest.  Louis  assured  Edward 
that  he  would  have  a  very  pleasant  time  at 
Paris  in  amusing  himself  with  the  gay  ladies, 
and  in  other  dissipations.  "  And  then  here  is 
the  cardinal,"  he  added,  turning  to  the  Cardinal 
of  Bourbon,  an  ecclesiastic  of  very  high  rank, 
but  of  very  loose  character,  who  was  among  his 
attendants,  "  who  will  grant  you  a  very  easy 
absolution  for  any  sins  you  may  take  a  fancy 
to  commit  while  you  are  there." 

Edward  and  his  friends  were  much  amused 
with  this  sportive  conversation  of  Louis's,  and 
Edward  made  many  smart  replies,  especially 
joking  the  cardinal,  who,  he  knew,  "  was  a  gay 
man  with  the  ladies,  and  a  boon  companion  over 
his  wine." 

This  sort  of  conversation  continued  for  some 
time,  and  at  length  the  kings,  after  again  shak- 


190  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Terms  of  the  treaty.  .Marriage  agreed  upou. 

ing  hands  through  the  grating,  departed  each 
his  own  way,  and  thus  this  most  extraordinary 
conference  of  sovereigns  was  terminated. 

The  treaty  which  was  thus  made  at  the  bridge 
of  Picquigny  contained  several  very  important 
articles.  The  principal  of  them  were  the  fol- 
lowing : 

1.  Louis  was  to  pay  fifty  thousand  crowns 
as  a  ransom  for  Queen  Margaret,  and  Edward 
was  to  release  her  from  the  Tower  and  send  her 
to  France  as  soon  as  he  arrived  in  England. 

2.  Louis  was  to  pay  to  Edward  in  cash,  on 
the  spot,  seventy-five  thousand  crowns,  and  an 
annuity  of  fifty  thousand  crowns. 

3.  lie  was  to  marry  his  son,  the  dauphin,  to 
Edward's   oldest  daughter,  Elizabeth,  and,  in 
case  of  her  death,  then  to  Ms  next  daughter, 
Mary.     These  parties  were  all  children  at  this 
time,  and  so  the  actual  marriage  was  postponed 
for  a  time ;  but  it  was  stipulated  solemnly  that 
it  should  be  performed  as  soon  as  the  prince 
and  princess  attained  to  a  proper  age.     It  is 
important  to  remember  this  part  of  the  treaty, 
as  a  great  and  serious  difficulty  grew  out  of  it 
when  the  time  for  the  execution  of  it  arrived. 

4.  By  the  last  article,  the  two  kings  bound 
themselves  to  "a  truce  for  seven  years,  during 
which  time  hostilities  were  to  be  entirely  sus- 


1475.]    EDWARD'S  REIGN  ENDS.        191 

Clarence  and  Uloueester.  rlhe  people  of  Hngland  discontented. 

pended,  and  free  trade  between  the  two  coun- 
tries was  to  be  allowed. 

Clarence  was  with  the  king  at  the  time  of 
making  this  treaty,  and  he  joined  with  the  oth- 
er courtiers  in  giving  it  his  approval,  but  Rich- 
ard would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  He  very 
much  preferred  to  ga  on  with  the  war,  and  was 
indignant  that  his  brother  should  allow  himself 
to  be  bought  off,  as  it  were,  by  presents  and 
payments  of  money,  and  induced  to  consent  to 
what  seemed  to  him  an  ignominious  peace.  He 
did  not  give  any  open  expression  to  his  discon- 
tent, but  he  refused  to  be  present  at  the  confer- 
ence on  the  bridge,  and,  when  Edward  and  the 
army,  after  the  peace  was  concluded,  went  back 
to  England,  he  went  with  them,  but  in  very  bad 
humor. 

The  people  of  England  were  in  very  bad 
humor  too.  You  will  observe  that  the  induce- 
ments which  Louis  employed  in  procuring  the 
treaty  were  gifts  and  sums  of  money  granted 
to  Edward  himself,  and  to  his  great  courtiers 
personally  for  their  own  private  uses.  There 
was  nothing  in  his  concessions  which  tended 
at  all  to  the  aggrandizement  or  to  the  benefit 
of  the  English  realm,  or  to  promote  the  interest 
of  the  people  at  large.  They  thought,  there- 
fore, that  Edward  and  his  counselors  had  been 


192  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Renewal  of  the  quarrel  between  Edward  and  Clarence. 

induced  to  sacrifice  the  rights  and  honor  of  the 
crown  and  the  kingdom  to  their  own  personal 
advantage  by  a  system  of  gross  and  open  brib- 
ery, and  they  were  very  much  displeased. 

The  next  great  event  which  marks  the  his- 
tory of  the  reign  of  Edward,  after  the  conclu- 
sion of  this  war,  was  the  breaking  out  anew  of 
the  old  feud  between  Edward  and  Clarence,  and 
the  dreadful  crisis  to  which  the  quarrel  finally 
reached.  The  renewal  of  the  quarrel  began  in 
Edward's  dispossessing  Clarence  of  a  portion  of 
his  property.  Edward  was  very  much  embar- 
rassed for  money  after  Ijis  return  from  'the 
French  expedition.  He  had  incurred  great 
debts  in  fitting  out  the  expedition,  and  these 
debts  the  Parliament  and  people  of  England 
were  very  unwilling  to  pay,  on  account  of  their 
being  so  much  displeased  with  the  peace  which 
had  been  made.  Edward,  consequently,  not- 
withstanding the  bribes  which  he  had  received 
from  Louis,  was  very  much  in  want  of  money. 
At  last  he  caused  a  law  to  be  passed  by  Parlia- 
ment enacting  that  all  the  patrimony  of  the 
royal  family,  which  had  hitherto  been  divided 
among  the  three  brothers,  should  be  resumed, 
and  applied  to  J;he  service  of  the  crown.  This 
made  Clarence  very  angry.  True,  he  was  ex- 


1476.]    EDWARD'S  EEIGN  ENDS.        193 

Clarence  retires  from  court.  Relief  in  witchcraft. 

trernely  rich,  through  the  property  which  he 
had  received  by  his  wife  from  the  Warwick 
estates,  but  this  did  not  make  him  any  more 
willing  to  submit  patiently  to  be  robbed  by  his 
brother.  He  expressed  his  anger  very  openly, 
and  the  ill  feeling  which  the  affair  occasioned 
led  to  a  great  many  scenes  of  dispute  and  crim- 
ination between  the  two  brothers,  until  at  last 
Clarence  could  no  longer  endure  to  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  Edward,  and  he  went  awayr 
with  Isabella  his  wife,  to  a  castle  which  he  pos- 
sessed near  Tewkesbury,  and  there  remained, 
in  angry  and  sullen  seclusion.  So  great  was 
the  animosity  that  prevailed  at  this  time  be- 
tween the  brothers  and  their  respective  parti- 
sans, that  almost  every  one  who  took  an  active 
part  in  the  quarrel  lived  in  continual  anxiety 
from  fear  of  being  poisoned,  or  of  being  destroy- 
ed by  incantations  or  witchcraft. 

Every  body  believed  in  witchcraft  in  these 
days.  There  was  one  peculiar  species  of  nec- 
romancy which  was  held  in  great  dread.  It 
was  supposed  that  certain  persons  had  the  pow- 
er secretly  to  destroy  any  one  against  whom 
they  conceived  a  feeling  of  ill  will  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner :  They  would  first  make  an  ef- 
figy of  their  intended  victim  out  of  wax  and 

other  similar  materials.     This  image  was  made 
9—13 


194         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1477. 


Blrtli  of  Clarence'  B  second  son. 


the  representation  of  the  person  to  be  destroy- 
ed by  means  of  certain  sorceries  and  incanta- 
tions, and  then  it  was  by  slow  degrees,  from  day 
to  day,  melted  away  and  gradually  destroyed. 
While  the  image  was  thus  melting,  the  inno- 
cent and  unconscious  victim  of  the  witchcraft 
would  pine  away,  and  at  last,  when  the  image 
was  fairly  gone,  would  die. 

Not  very  long  after  Clarence  left  the  court 
and  went  to  Tewkesbury,  his  wife  gave  birth  to 
a  child.  It  was  the  second  son.  The  child  was 
named  Richard,  and  is  known  in  history  as 
Richard  of  Clarence.  Isabella  did  not  recover 
her  health  and  strength  after  the  birth  of  her 
child.  She  pined  away  in  a  slow  and  linger- 
ing manner  for  two  or  three  months,  and  then 
died. 

Clarence  was  convinced  that  she  did  not  die 
a  natural  death.  He  believed  that  her  life  had 
been  destroyed  by  some  process  of  witchcraft, 
such  as  has  been  described,  or  by  poison,  and 
he  openly  charged  the  queen  with  having  in- 
stigated the  murder  by  having  employed  some 
sorcerer  or  assassin  to  accomplish  it.  After  a 
time  he  satisfied  himself  that  a  certain  woman 
named  Ankaret  Twynhyo  was  the  person 
whom  the  queen  had  employed  to  commit  this 
crime,  and  watching  an  opportunity  when  this 


EDWARD'S  KEIGN  ENDS.        195 

New  quarrels.  The  rich  heiress. 

woman  was  at  her  own  residence,  away  from 
all  who  could  protect  her,  he  sent  a  body  of 
armed  men  from  among  his  retainers,  who  went 
secretly  to  the  place,  and,  breaking  in  suddenly, 
seized  the  woman  and  bore  her  off  to  Warwick 
Castle.  There  Clarence  subjected  her  to  what 
he  called  a  trial,  and  she  was  condemned  to 
death,  and  executed  at  once.  The  charge 
against  her  was  that  she  administered  poison  to 
the  duchess  in  a  cup  of  ale.  So  summary  were 
these  proceedings,  that  the  poor  woman  was 
dead  in  three  hours  from  the  time  that  she  ar- 
rived at  the  castle  gates. 

These  proceedings,  of  course,  greatly  exas- 
perated Edward  and  the  queen,  and  made  them 
hate  Clarence  more  than  ever. 

Yery  soon  after  this,  Charles,  the  Duke  oi 
Burgundy,  \vho  married  Margaret,  Edward  and 
Clarence's  sister,  and  who  had  been  Edward's 
ally  in  so  many  of  his  wars,  was  killed  in  bat- 
tle. He  left  a  daughter  named  Mary,  of  whom 
Margaret  was  the  step-mother;  for  Mary  was 
the  child  of  the  duke  by  a  former  marriage. 
Now,  as  Charles  was  possessed  of  immense  es- 
tates, Mary,  by  his  death,  became  a  great  heir- 
ess, and  Clarence,  now  that  his  wife  was  dead, 
conceived  the  idea  of  making  her  his  second 

wife.     He    immediately   commenced    negotia- 
13 


196         KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.U78. 

Ed*ard  and  Clarence  quarrel  about  the  heiress. 

tions  to  this  end.  Margaret  favored  the  plan, 
but  Edward  and  Elizabeth,  the  queen,  as  soon 
as  they  heard  of  it,  set  themselves  at  work  in 
the  most  earnest  manner  to  thwart  and  circum- 
vent it. 

Their  motives  for  opposing  this  match  arose 
partly  from  their  enmity  to  Clarence,  and  part- 
ly from  designs  of  their  own  which  they  had 
formed  in  respect  to  the  marriage  'of  Mary. 
The  queen  wished  to  secure  the  young  heiress 
for  one  of  her  brothers.  Edward  had  another 
plan,  which  was  to  marry  Mary -to  a  certain 
Duke  Maximilian.  Edward's  plan,  in  the  end, 
was  carried  ou%  and  Clarence  was  defeated 
When  Clarence  found  at  length  that  the  bride, 
with  all  the  immense  wealth  and  vastly  in- 
creased importance  which  his  marriage  with  her 
was  to  bring,  were  lost  to  him  through  Edward's 
interference,  and  conferred  upon  his  hated  rival 
Maximilian,  he  was  terribly  enraged.  He  ex- 
pressed his  resentment  and  anger  against  the 
king  in  the  most  violent  terms. 

About  this  time  a  certain  nobleman,  one  of 
the  king's  friends,  died.  The  king  accused  a 
priest,  who  was  in  Clarence's  service,  of  having 
killed  him  by  sorcery.  The  priest  was  seized 
and  put  to  the  torture  to  compel  him  to  confess 
his  crime  and  to  reveal  his  confederates.  The 


EDWARD'S  EEIGN  ENDS.        197 

Clarence  becomes  furious.  He  is  sent  to  the  Tower. 

priest  at  length  confessed,  and  named  as  his 
accomplice  one  of  Clarence's  household  named 
Burdett,  a  gentleman  who  lived  in  very  inti- 
mate and  confidential  relations  with  Clarence 
himself. 

The  confession  was  taken  as  proof  of  guilt, 
and  the  priest  and  Burdett  were  both  imme- 
diately executed. 

Clarence  was  now  perfectly  frantic  with  rage. 
Ete  could  restrain  himself  no  longer.  He  forced 
his  way  into  the  king's  council-chamber,  and 
there  uttered  to  the  lords  who  were  assembled 
the  most  violent  and  angry  denunciation  of  the 
king.  He  accused  him  of  injustice  and  cruelty, 
and  upbraided  him,  and  all  who  counseled  and 
aided  him,  in  the  severest  terms. 

When  the  king,  who  was  not  himself  present 
on  this  occasion,  heard  what  Clarence  had  done, 
he  said  that  such  proceedings  were  subversive 
of  the  laws  of  the  realm,  and  destructive  to  all 
good  government,  and  he  commanded  tHat  Clar- 
ence should  be  arrested  and  sent  to  the  Tower. 

After  a  short  time  the  king  summoned  a  Par- 
liament, and  when  the  assembly  was  convened, 
he  brought  his  brother  out  from  his  prison  in 
the  Tower,  and  arraigned  him  at  the  bar  of  the 
House  of  Lords  on  charges  of  the  most  extraor- 
dinary character^  which  he  himself  personally 


198  KING  KICHARD  III. 


Clarence  is  accused  of  high  treason. 


preferred  against  him.  In  these  charges  Clar- 
ence was  accused  of  having  formed  treasonable 
conspiracies  to  depose  the  king,  disinherit  the 
king's  children,  and  raise  himself  to  the  throne, 
and  with  this  view  of  having  slandered  the 
king,  and  endeavored,  by  bribes  and  false  rep- 
resentations, to  entice  away  his  subjects  from 
their  allegiance ;  of  having  joined  himself  with 
the  Lancastrian  faction  so  far  as  to  promise  to 
restore  them  their  estates  which  had  been  con- 
fiscated, provided  that  they  would  assist  him  in 
usurping  the  throne ;  and  of  having  secretly  or- 
ganized an  armed  force,  which  was  all  ready, 
and  waiting  only  for  the  proper  occasion  to 
strike  the  blow. 

Clarence  denied  all  these  charges  in  the  most 
earnest  and  solemn  manner.  The  king  insisted 
upon  the  truth  of  them,  and  brought  forward 
many  witnesses  to  prove  them.  Of  course, 
whether  the  charges  were  true  or  false,  there 
could  be  no  difficulty  in  rinding  plenty  of  wit- 
nesses to  give  the  required  testimony.  The 
lords  listened  to  the  charges  and  the  defense 
with  a  sort  of  solemn  awe.  Indeed,  all  England, 
as  it  were,  stood  by,  silenced  and  appalled  at  the 
progress  of  this  dreadful  fraternal  quarrel,  and 
at  the  prospecf  of  the  terrible  termination  of  it, 
which  all  could  foresee  must  come. 


EDWARD  s  REIGN  ENDS.       201 

He  is  sentenced  to  death.  He  is  assassinated. 

Whatever  the  members  of  Parliament  may 
have  thought  of  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the 
charges,  there  was  only  one  way  in  which  it 
was  prudent  or  even  safe  for  them  to  vote,  and 
Clarence  was  condemned  to  death. 

Sentence  being  passed,  the  prisoner  was  re- 
manded to  the  Tower. 

Edward  seems,  after  all,  to  have  shrunk  from 
the  open  and  public  execution  of  the  sentence 
which  he  had  caused  to  be  pronounced  against 
his  brother.  No  public  execution  took  place, 
but  in  a  short  time  it  was  announced  that  Clar- 
ence had  died  in  prison.  It  was  understood 
that  assassins  were  employed  to  go  privately 
into  the  room  where  he  was  confined  and  put 
him  to  death;  and  it  is  universally  believed, 
though  there  is  no  positive  proof  of  the  fact, 
that  Richard  was  the  person  who  made  the  ar- 
rangements for  the  performance  of  this  deed.* 

After  Clarence  was  dead,  and  the  excitement 
and  anger  of  the  quarrel  had  subsided  in  Ed- 
ward's mind,  he  was  overwhelmed  with  remorse 
and  anguish  at  what  he  had  done.  He  attempt- 

*  There  wus  a  strange  story  in  respect  to  the  manner  of 
Clarence's  death,  which  was  very  current  at  the  time,  name- 
ly, that  he  was  drowned  by  his  brothers  in  a  butt  of  Malm- 
sey wine.  But  there  is  no  evidence  whatever  that  this  story 
was  true. 


202         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1480. 

Disgipation  and  wickedness  of  Edward.  Jane  Shore. 

ed  to  drown  these  painful  thoughts  by  dissipa- 
tion and  vice.  He  neglected  the  affairs  of  his 
government,  and  his  duties  to  his  wife  and  fam- 
ily, and  spent  his  time  in  gay  pleasures  with 
the  ladies  of  his  court,  and  in  guilty  carousings 
with  wicked  men.  In  these  pleasures  he  spent 
large  sums  of  money,  wasting  his  patrimony 
and  all  his  resources  in  extravagance  and  foil}-. 
Among  other  amusements,  he  used  to  form 
hunting-parties,  in  which  the  ladies  of  his  court 
were  accustomed  to  join,  and  he  used  to  set  up 
gay  silken  tents  for  their  accommodation  on 
the  hunting-ground.  He  spent  vast  sums,  too, 
upon  his  dress,  being  very  vain  of  his  personal 
attractions,  and  of  the  favor  in  which  he  was 
held  by  the  ladies  around  him. 

The  most  conspicuous  of  his  various  female 
favorites  was  the  celebrated  Jane  Shore.  She 
was  the  wife  of  a  respectable  citizen  of  London. 
Edward  enticed  her  away  from  her  husband, 
and  induced  her  to  come  and  live  at  court  with 
him.  The  opposite  engraving,  which  is  taken 
from  an  ancient  portrait,  gives  undoubtedly  a 
correct  representation  both  of  her  features  and 
of  her  dress.  We  shall  hear  more  of  this  per- 
son in  the  sequel. 

Things  went  on  in  this  way  for  about  two 
years,  when  at  length  war  broke  out  on  the 


EDWARD'S  REIGN  ENDS. 


203 


Edward  sends  Richard  to  war. 


JAJSE   SHOEE. 


frontiers  of  Scotland.  Edward  was  too  much 
engrossed  with  his  gallantries  and  pleasures  to 
march  himself  to  meet  the  enemy,  and  so  he 
commissioned  Richard  to  go.  Richard  was 
very  well  pleased  that  his  brother  Edward 
should  remain  at  home,  and  waste  away  in  ef- 
feminacy and  vice  his  character  and  his  influ- 


204  KING  KICHARD  III.      . 

Difficulties  in  Scotland.  Edward  falls  sick. 

ence  in  the  kingdom,  while  he  went  forth  in 
command  of  the  army,  to  acquire,  by  the  vigor 
and  success  of  his  military  career,  that  ascend- 
ency that  Edward  was  losing.  So  he  took  the 
command  of  the  army  and  went  forth  to  the  war. 

The  war  was  protracted  for  several  years. 
The  King  of  Scotland  had  a  brother,  the  Duke 
of  Albany,  who  was  attempting  to  dethrone 
him,  in  order  that  he  might  reign  in  his  stead ; 
that  is,  he  was  doing  exactly  that  which  Ed- 
ward had  charged  upon  his  brother  Clarence, 
and  for  which  he  had  caused  Clarence  to  be 
killed  ;  and  yet,  with  strange  inconsistency, 
Edward  espoused  the  cause  of  this  Clarence  of 
Scotland,  and  laid  deep  plans  for  enabling  him 
to  depose  and  supplant  his  brother. 

In  the  midst  of  the  measures  which  Richard 
was  taking  for  the  execution  of  these  plans, 
they,  as  well  as  all  Edward's  other  earthly 
schemes  and  hopes,  were  suddenly  destroyed  by 
the  hand  of  death.  Edward's  health  had  be- 
come much  impaired  by  the  dissolute  life  which 
he  had  led,  and  at  last  he  fell  seriously  sick. 
While  he  was  sick,  an  affair  occurred  which 
vexed  and  worried  his  mind  beyond  endurance. 

The  reader  will  recollect  that,  at  the  treaty 
which  Edward  made  with  Louis  of  France 
at  the  barricade  on  the  bridge  of  Picquigny, 


EDWARD'S  KEIGN  ENDS.       205 

His  anger  against  the  King  of  France. 

a  marriage  contract  was  concluded  between 
Louis's  oldest  son,  the  Dauphin  of  France,  and 
Edward's  daughter  Mary,  and  it  was  agreed 
that,  as  soon  as  the  children  were  grown  up, 
and  were  old  enough,  they  should  be  married. 
Louis  took  a  solemn  oath  upon  the  prayer-book 
and  crucifix  that  he  would  not  fail  to  keep  this 
agreement. 

But  now  some  years  had  passed  away,  and 
circumstances  had  changed  so  much  that  Louis 
did  not  wish  to  keep  this  promise.  Edward's 
great  ally,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  was  dead. 
His  daughter  Mary,  who  became  the  Duchess 
Mary  on  the  death  of  her  father,  and  who,  so 
greatly  to  Clarence's  disappointment,  had  mar- 
ried Maximilian,  had  succeeded  to  the  estates 
and  possessions  of  her  father.  These  posses- 
sions the  King  of  France  desired  very  much  to 
join  to  his  dominions,  as  they  lay  contiguous 
to  them,  and  the  fear  of  Edward,  which  had 
prompted  him  to  make  the  marriage  contract 
with  him  in  the  first  instance,  had  now  passed 
away,  on  account  of  Edward's  having  become 
so  much  weakened  by  his  vices  and  his  effemi- 
nacy. He  now,  therefore,  became  desirous  of 
allying  his  family  to  that  of  Burgundy  rather 
than  that  of  England. 

The  Duchess  Mary  had  three  children,  all 


206  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Death  of  the  Duchess  Mary.  ouis's  treachery. 


very  young.  The  oldest,  Philip,  was  only 
about  three  years  old. 

Now  it  happened  that  just  at  this  time,  while 
the  Duchess  Mary  was  out  with  a  small  party, 
hawking,  near  the  city  of  Bruges,  as  they  were 
flying  the  hawks  at  some  herons,  the  company 
galloping  on  over  the  fields  in  order  to  keep 
up  with  the  birds,  the  duchess's  horse,  in  tak- 
ing a  leap,  burst  the  girths  of  the  saddle,  and 
the  duchess  was  thrown  off  against  the  trunk 
of  a  tree.  She  was  immediately  taken  up  and 
borne  into  a  house,  but  she  was  so  much  in- 
jured that  she  almost  immediately  died. 

Of  course,  her  titles  and  estates  would  now 
descend  to  her  children.  The  second  of  the 
children  was  a  girl.  Her  name  was  Margaret. 
She  was  about  two  years  old.  Louis  immedi- 
ately resolved  to  give  up  the  match  between 
the  dauphin  and  Edward's  daughter  Mary,  and 
contract  another  alliance  for  him  with  this  little 
Margaret.  He  met  with  considerable  difficulty 
and  delay  in  bringing  this  about,  but  he  suc- 
ceeded at  last.  While  the  negotiations  were 
pending,  Edward,  who  suspected  what  was  go- 
ing on,  was  assured  that  nothing  of  the  kind 
was  intended,  and  various  false  tales  and  pre- 
tenses were  advanced  by  Louis  to  quiet  his 
mind. 


1483.]  EDWARD'S  EEIGN  ENDS.         207 

Vexation  and  rage  of  Edward.  His  death. 

At  length,  when  all  was  settled,  the  new  plan 
was  openly  proclaimed,  and  great  celebrations 
and  parades  were  held  in  Paris  in  honor  of  the 
event.  Edward  was  overwhelmed  with  vexa- 
tion and  rage  when  he  received  the  tidings. 
He  was,  however,  completely  helpless.  He  lay 
tossing  restlessly  on  his  sick-bed,  cursing,  on 
the  one  hand,  Louis's  faithlessness  and  treach- 
ery, and,  on  the  other,  his  own  miserable  weak- 
ness and  pain,  which  made  it  so  utterly  impos- 
sible that  he  should  do  any  thing  to  resent  the 
affront. 

His  vexation  and  rage  so  disturbed  and  wor- 
ried him  that  they  hastened  his  death.  When 
he  found  that  his  last  hour  was  drawing  near, 
a  new  source  of  agitation  and  anguish  was  open- 
ed in  his  mind  by  the  remorse  which  now  be- 
gan to  overwhelm  him  for  his  vices  and  crimes. 
Long-forgotten  deeds  of  injustice,  of  violence, 
and  of  eVery  species  of  wickedness  rose  before 
his  mind,  and  terrified  him  with  awful  premo- 
nition of  the  anger  of  God  and  of  the  judgment 
to  come.  In  his  distress,  he  tried  to  make  rep- 
aration for  some  of  the  grossest  of  the  wrongs 
which  he  had  committed,  but  it  was  too  late. 
After  lingering  a  week  or  two  in  this  condition 
of  distress  and  suffering,  his  spirit  passed  away. 


208  KING  RICHARD  III. 


Kffect  of  the  tidings  of  Edward's  death. 


CHAPTER  X. 
RICHARD  AND  EDWARD  Y. 

AS  the  tidings  of  Edward's  death  spread 
throughout  England,  they  were  received 
every  where  with  a  sentiment  of  anxiety  and 
suspense,  for  no  one  knew  what  the  conse- 
quences would  be.  Edward  left  two  sons.  Ed- 
ward, the  oldest  of  the  two,  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
was  about  thirteen  years  of  age.  The  young- 
est, whose  name  was  Richard,  was  eleven.  Of 
course,  Edward  was  the  rightful  heir  to  the 
crown.  Next  to  him  in  the  line  of  succession 
came  his  brother,  and  next  to  them  came  Rich- 
ard, Duke  of  Gloucester,  their  uncle.  But  it 
was  universally  known  that  the  Duke  of  Glou- 
cester was  a  reckless  and  unscrupulous  man,  and 
the  question  in  every  one's  mind  was  whether 
lie  would  recognize  the  rights  of  his  young 
nephews  at  all,  or  whether  he  would  seize  the 
crown  at  once  for  himself. 

Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  was  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  England  at  this  time,  at  the  head  of 
his  army.  The  great  power  which  the  posses- 
sion of  this  army  gave  him  made  people  all  the 


1483.]    ElCHARD    AND    EDWARD    V.      209 
Anxiety  of  Queen  Elizabeth  Woodville. 

more  fearful  that  he  might  attempt  to  usurp  the 
throne. 

The  person  who  was  most  anxious  in  respect 
to  the  result  was  the  widowed  Queen  Elizabeth, 
the  mother  of  the  two  princes.  She  was  very 
much  alarmed.  The  boys  themselves  were  not 
old  enough  to  realize  very  fully  the  danger  that ' 
they  were  in,  or  to  render  their  mother  much 
aid  in  her  attempts  to  save  them.  The  person 
on  whom  she  chiefly  relied  was  her  brother,  the 
Earl  of  Eivers.  Edward,  her  oldest  son,  was 
under  this  uncle  Kivers's  care.  The  uncle  and 
the  nephew  were  residing  together  at  this  time 
at  the  castle  of  Ludlow.*  Queen  Elizabeth  was 
in  London  with  her  second  son. 

Immediately  on  the  death  of  the  king,  a  coun- 
cil was  called  to  deliberate  upon  the  measures 
proper  to  be  taken.  The  council  decreed  that 
the  Prince  of  Wales  should  be  proclaimed  king, 
and  they  fixed  upon  the  4th  of  May  for  the  day 
of  his  coronation.  They  also  made  arrange- 
ments for  sending  orders  to  the  Earl  of  Rivers 
to  come  at  once  with  the  young  king  to  London, 
in  order  that  the  coronation  might  take  place. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was  present  at  this  council, 
and  she  desired  that  her  brother  might  be  or- 
dered to  come  attended  by  as  large  an  armed 

*  For  a  view  of  this  castle,  see  page  26. 
9 — 14 


210          KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Attempt  made  by  Edward  to  effect  a  reconciliation. 

force  as  he  could  raise,  for  the  protection  of  the 
prince  on  the  way. 

Now  it  happened  that  there  were  great  dis- 
sensions among  the  officers  and  nobles  of  the 
court  at  this  time.  The  queen,  with  the  rela- 
tives and  connections  of  her  family,  formed  one 
party,  and  the  other  nobles  and  peers  of  En- 
gland another  party,  Mid  great  was  the  animos- 
ity and  hatred  that  prevailed.  The  English 
nobles  had  never  been  satisfied  with  Edward's 
marriage,  and  they  were  very  jealous  of  the  in- 
fluence of  the  queen's  family  and  relations. 
This  feud  had  been  kept  down  in  some  degree 
while  Edward  lived,  and  Edward  had  made  a 
great  final  effort  to  heal  it  entirely  in  his  last 
sickness.  He  called  together  the  leading  nobles 
on  -each  side,  that  had  taken  part  in  this  quar- 
rel, and  then,  by  great  exertion,  went  in  among 
them,  and  urged  them  to,  forget  their  dissen- 
sions and  become  reconciled  to  each  other.  The 
effort  for  the  time  seemed  to  be  successful,  and 
both  parties  agreed  to  a  compromise  of  the 
quarrel,  and  took  a  solemn  oath  that  they  would 
thenceforth  live  together  in  peace.  But  now, 
on  the  death  of  the  king,  the  dissension  broke 
out  afresh.  The  other  nobles  were  very  jeal- 
ous and  suspicious  of  every  measure  which 
Elizabeth  proposed,  especially  if  it  tended  to 


THE   A1TEM1TED   RECONCILIATION. 


KlCHAKD    AND    EDWARD    V.        213 
Plans  for  bringing  the  young  prince  to  London. 

continue  the  possession  of  power  and  influence 
in  the  hands  of  her  family.  Accordingly,  when 
she  proposed  in  the  council  to  send  for  the  earl, 
and  to  require  him  to  raise  a  large  escort  to 
bring  the  young  Prince  Edward  to  London, 
they  objected  to  it. 

"  Against  whom,"  demanded  one  of  the  coun- 
cilors, "is  the  young  prince  to  be  defended? 
Who  are  his  enemies  ?  He  has  none,  and  the 
real  motive  and  design  of  raising  this  force  is 
not  to  protect  the  prince,  but  only  to  secure  to 
the  Woodville  family  the  means  of  increasing 
and  perpetuating  their  own  importance  and 
power." 

The  speaker  upbraided  the  queen,  too,  with 
having,  by  this  proposal,  and  by  the  attempt  to 
promote  the  aggrandizement  of  the  Woodville 
party  which  was  concealed  in  it,  been  guilty  of 
violating  the  oath  of  reconciliation  which  had 
been  taken  during  the  last  sickness  of  the  late 
king.  So  the  council  refused  to  authorize  the 
armed  escort,  and  the  queen,  with  tears  of  dis- 
appointment and  vexation,  gave  up  the  plan. 
At  least  she  gave  it  up  ostensibly,  but  she  nev- 
ertheless contrived  to  come  to  some  secret  un- 
derstanding with  the  earl,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  set  out  from  the  castle  with  the  young 
prince  at  the  head  of  quite  a  large  force.  Some 


214         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Richard's  movements.  His  letter  to  the  queen. 

of  the  authorities  state  that  he  had  with  him 
two  thousand  men. 

In  the  mean  time,  Richard  of  Gloucester,  as 
soon  as  he  heard  of  Edward's  death,  arranged 
his  afiairs  at  once,  and  made  preparations  to 
set  out  for  London  too.  He  put  his  army  in 
mourning  for  the  death  of  the  king,  and  he 
wrote  a  most  respectful  and  feeling  letter  of 
condolence  to  the  queen.  In  this  letter  he 
made  a  solemn  profession  of  homage  and  fealty 
to  her  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  whom  he  ac- 
knowledged as  rightfully  entitled  to  the  crown, ' 
and  promised  to  be  faithful  in  his  allegiance  to 
him,  and  to  all  the  duties  which  he  owed  him. 

Queen  Elizabeth's  mind  was  much  relieved 
by  this  letter.  She  began  to  think  that  she 
was  going  to  find  in  Richard  an  efficient  friend 
to  sustain  her  cause  and  that  of  her  family 
against  her  enemies. 

When  Richard  reached  York,  he  made  a  sol- 
emn entry  into  that  town,  attended  by  six  hund- 
red knights  all  dressed  in  deep  mourning.  At 
the  head  of  this  funeral  procession  he  proceed- 
ed to  the  Cathedral,  and  there  caused  the  obse- 
quies of  the  king  to  be  celebrated  with  great 
pomp,  and  with  very  impressive  and  apparently 
sincere  exhibitions  of  the  grief  which  he  him- 
self personally  felt  for  the  loss  of  his  brother. 


1483.]    KlCHARD   AND   EDWARD   V.        215 


He  arrives  at  Northampton.  The  king  at  Stony  Stratford. 

After  a  brief  delay  in  York,  Richard  resumed 
Hs  march  to  the  southward.  He  arranged  it 
so  as  to  overtake  the  party  of  the  prince  and 
the  Earl  of  Rivers  on  the  way. 

He  arrived  at  the  town  of  Northampton  on 
the  same  day  that  the  prince,  with  the  Earl  of 
Rivers  and  his  escort,  reached  the  town  of  Stony 
Stratford,  which  was  only  a  few  miles  from  it 
When  the  earl  heard  that  Gloucester  was  ao 
near,  he  took  with  him  another  nobleman,  named 
Lord  Gray,  and  a  small  body  of  attendants,  and 
Jode  back  to  Northampton  to  pay  his  respects 
to  Gloucester  on  the  part  of  the  young  king; 
for  they  considered  that  Edward  became  at 
once,  by  the  death  of  his  father,  King  of  En- 
gland, under  the  style  and  title  of  Edward  the 
Fifth. 

Gloucester  received  his  visitors  in  a  very 
courteous  and  friendly  manner.  He  invited 
them  to  sup  with  him,  and  he  made  quite  an 
entertainment  for  them,  and  for  some  other 
friends  whom  he  invited  to  join  them.  The 
party  spent  the  evening  together  in  a  very 
agreeable  manner. 

They  sat  so  long  over  their  wine  that  it  was 
too  late  for  the  earl  and  Lord  Gray  to  return 
that  ni^ht  to  Stony  Stratford,  and  Richard  ac- 
cordingly made  arrangements  for  them  to  re- 


216  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Movements  and  manoeuvres  at  Northampton. 

main  in  Northampton.  He  assigned  quarters 
to  them  in  the  town,  and  secretly  set  a  guard 
over  them,  to  prevent  their  making  their  escape. 
The  next  morning,  when  they  arose,  they  were 
astonished  to  find  themselves  under  guard,  and 
to  perceive  too,  as  they  did,  that  all  the  avenues 
of  the  town  were  occupied  with  troops.  They 
suspected  treachery,  but  they  thought  it  not 
prudent  to  express  their  suspicions.  Richard, 
when  he  met  them  again  in  the  morning,  treat- 
ed them  in  the  same  friendly  manner  as  on  the 
evening  before,  and  proposed  to  accompany 
them  to  Stony  Stratford,  in  order  that  he  might 
there  see  and  pay  his  respects  to  the  king. 
This  was  agreed  to,  and  they  all  set  out  to- 
gether. 

In  company  with  Richard  was  one  of  his 
friends  and  confederates,  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham. This  Duke  of  Buckingham  had  been 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  party  at  court  that 
were  opposed  to  the  family  of  the  queen.  These 
two,  together  with  the  Earl  of  Rivers  and  Lord 
Gray,  rode  on  in  a  very  friendly  manner  to- 
ward Stratford.  They  went  in  advance  of  Rich- 
ard's troops,  which  were  ordered  to  follow  pret- 
ty closely  behind.  In  this  manner  they  went 
on  till  they  began  to  draw  near  to  the  town. 

Richard  now  at  once  threw  off  his  disguise. 


RICHARD  AND  EDWARD  V.      217 


The  noblemen  taken  into  custody.  Seizure  of  the  king. 

He  told  the  Earl  of  Rivers  and  Lord  Gray  that 
the  influence  which  they  were  exerting  over 
the  mind  of  the  king  was  evil,  and  that  he  felt 
it  his  duty  to  take  the  king  from  their  charge. 

Then,  at  a  signal  given,  armed  men  came  up 
and  took  the  two  noblemen  in  custody.  Rich- 
ard, with  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  and  their 
attendants,  drove  on  with  all  speed  into  the 
town.  It  seems  that  the  persons  who  had  been 
left  with  Edward  had,  in  some  way  or  other, 
obtained  intelligence  of  what  was  going  on,  for 
they  were  just  upon  the  eve  of  making  their 
escape  with  him  when  Richard  and  his  party 
arrived.  The  horse  was  saddled,  and  the  young 
king  was  all  ready  to  mount. 

Richard,  when  he  came  up  to  the  place,  as- 
sumed the  command  at  once.  He  made  no 
obeisance  to  his  nephew,  nor  did  he  in  any  oth- 
er way  seem  to  recognize  or  acknowledge  him 
as  his  sovereign.  He  simply  said  that  he  would 
take  care  of  his  safety. 

"The  persons  that  have  been  about  you," 
said  he,  "have  been  conspiring  against  your 
life,  but  I  will  protect  you." 

He  then  ordered  several  of  the  principal  of 
Edward's  attendants  to  be  arrested ;  the  rest  he 
commanded  to  disperse.  What  became  of  the 
large  body  of  men  which  the  Earl  of  Rivers  is 


218  KING  EICHAKD  III. 


The  little  king  is  very  much  frightened. 


said  to  have  had  under  his  command  does  not 
appear.  Whether  they  dispersed  in  obedience 
to  Richard's  commands,  or  whether  they  aban- 
doned the  earl  and  came  over  to  Richard's  side, 
is  uncertain.  At  any  rate,  nobody  resisted  him. 
The  Earl  of  Rivers,  Lord  Gray,  and  the  others 
were  secured,  with  a  view  of  being  sent  off  pris- 
oners to  the  northward.  Edward  himself  was 
to  be  taken  with  Richard  back  to  Northampton. 

The  little  king  himself  scarcely  knew  what 
to  make  of  these  proceedings.  He  was  fright- 
ened ;  and  when  he  saw  that  all  those  personal 
friends  and  attendants  who  had  had  the  charge 
of  him  so  long,  and  to  whom  he  was  strongly 
attached,  were  seized  and  sent  away,  and  oth- 
ers, strangers  to  him,  put  in  their  place,  he  could 
not  refrain  from  tears.  King  as  he  was,  how- 
ever, and  sovereign  ruler  over  millions  of  men, 
he  was  utterly  helpless  in  his  uncle's  hands,  and 
obliged  to  yield  himself  passively  to  the  dispo- 
sition which  his  uncle  thought  best  to  make  of 
him. 

All  the  accounts  of  Edward  represent  him  as 
a  kind-hearted  and  affectionate  boy,  of  a  gentle 
spirit,  and  of  a  fair  and  prepossessing  counte- 
nance. The  ancient  portraits  of  him  which  re- 
main confirm  these  accounts  of  his  personal 
appearance  and  of  his  character. 


RICHARD   AND    EDWARD   V.        219 


Kichard's  explanations  of  his  proceedings. 


ANOIENT   PORTRAIT   OF   EDWARD  V. 


After  having  taken  these  necessary  steps, 
and  thus  secured  the  power  in  his  own  hands, 
Richard  vouchsafed  an  explanation  of  what  he 
had  done  to  the  young  king.  He  told  him  that 
Earl  Rivers,  and  Lord  Gray,  and  other  persons 
belonging  to  their  party,  "had  conspired  to- 
gether to  rule  the  kynge  and  the  realmc,  to 


220        KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Kd ward's  astonishment.  He  la  helpless  in  Kichard's  hamU 

sette  variance  among  the  states,  and  to  subdue 
and  destroy  the  noble  blood  of  the  realme," 
and  that  he,  Richard,  had  interposed  to  save 
Edward  from  their  snares.  He  told  him,  more- 
over, that  Lord  Dorset,  who  was  Edward's  half 
.brother,  being  the  son  of  the  queen  by  her  first 
husband,  and  who  had  for  some  time  held  the 
office  of  Chancellor  of  the  Tower,  had  taken  out 
the  king's  treasure  from  that  castle,  and  had 
sent  much  of  it  away  beyond  the  sea. 

Edward,  astonished  and  bewildered,  did  not 
know  at  first  what  to  reply  to  his  uncle.  He 
said,  however,  at  last,  that  he  never  heard  of 
any  such  designs  on  the  part  of  his  mother's 
relatives,  and  he  could  not  believe  that  the 
charges  were  true.  But  Richard  assured  him 
that  they  were  true,  and  that  "  his  kindred  had 
kepte  their  dealings  from  the  knowledge  of  hie 
grace."  Satisfied  or  not,  Edward  was  silenced ; 
and  he  submitted,  since  it  was  hopeless  for  him 
to  attempt  to  resist,  to  be  taken  back  in  his  un- 
cle's custody  to  Northampton. 


TAKING  SANCTUARY.  221 


Alarm  of  the  queen  on  hearing  the  news. 


CHAPTER  XL 
TAKING  SANCTUARY. 

WHEN  the  news  reached  London  that  the 
king  had  been  seized  on  the  way  to  the 
capital,  and  was  in  Gloucester's  custody,  it  pro- 
duced a  universal  commotion.  Queen  Elizabeth 
was  thrown  at  once  into  a  state  of  great  anxie- 
ty and  alarm.  The  tidings  reached  her  at  mid- 
night. She  was  in  the  palace  at  Westminster 
at  the  time.  She  rose  immediately  in  the  great- 
est terror,  and  began  to  make  preparations  for 
fleeing  to  sanctuary  with  the  Duke  of  York, 
her  second  son.  All  her  friends  in  the  neigh- 
borhood were  aroused  and  summoned  to  her 
aid.  The  palace  soon  became  a  scene  of  uni- 
versal confusion.  Every  body  was  busy  pack- 
ing up  clothing  and  other  necessaries  in  trunks 
and  boxes,  and  securing  jewels  and  valuables 
of  various  kinds,  and  removing  them  to  places 
of  safety.  In  the  midst  of  this  scene,  the  queen 
herself  sat  upon  the  rushes  which  covered  the 
floor,  half  dressed,  and  her  long  and  beautiful 
locks  of  hair  streaming  over  her  shoulders,  the 
picture  of  despair. 


222         KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Visit  of  the  archbishop.  Hastings' a  message. 

There  was  a  certain  nobleman,  named  Lord 
Hastings,  who  had  been  a  very  prominent  and 
devoted  friend  to  Edward  the  Fourth  during 
his  life,  and  had  consequently  been  upon  very 
intimate  and  friendly  terms  with  the  queen.  It 
was  he,  however,  that  had  objected  in  the  coun- 
cil to  the  employment  of  a  large  force  to  con- 
duct the  young  king  to  London,  and,  by  so  do- 
ing, had  displeased  the  queen.  Toward  morn- 
ing, while  the  queen  was  in  the  depths  of  her 
distress  and  terror,  making  her  preparations  for 
flight,  a  cheering  message  from  Hastings  was 
brought  to  her,  telling  her  not  to  be  alarmed. 
The  message  was  brought  to  her  by  a  certain 
archbishop  who  had  been  chancellor,  that  is, 
had  had  the  custody  of  the  great  seal,  an  im- 
pression from  which  was  necessary  to  the  valid- 
ity of  any  royal  decree.  He  came  to  deliver 
up  -the  seal  to  the  queen,  and  also  to  bring  Lord 
Hastings's  message. 

"Ah,  woe  worth  him  !"  said  the  queen,  when 
the  archbishop  informed  her  that  Lord  Hastings 
bid  her  not  fear.  "  It  is  he  that  is  the  cause  of 
all  my  sorrows ;  he  goeth  about  to  destroy  me 
and  my  blood." 

"Madam,"  said  the  archbishop,  "be  of  good 
comfort.  I  assure  you  that,  if  they  crown  anj 
other  king  than  your  eldest  son,  whom  they 


AD.  1483.]  TAKING  SANCTUARY.       223 


The  queen  is  in  great  distress. 


have  with  them,  we  will,  on  the  morrow,  crown 
his  brother,  whom  you  have  with  you  here. 
And  here  is  the  great  seal,  which,  in  like  wise 
as  your  noble  husband  gave  it  to  me,  so  I  de- 
liver it  to  you  for  the  use  of  your  son."  So  the 
archbishop  delivered  the  great  seal  into  the 
queen's  hands,  and  went  away.  This  was  just 
before  the  dawn. 

The  words  which  the  archbishop  spoke  to  the 
queen  did  not  give  her  much  comfort.  Indeed, 
Iter  fears  were  not  so  much  for  her  children,  or 
for  the  right  of  the  eldest  to  succeed  to  the 
throne,  as  for  herself  and  her  own  personal  and 
fomily  ascendency  under  the  reign  of  her  son. 
She  had  contrived,  during  the  lifetime  of  her 
husband,  to  keep  pretty  nearly  all  the  influence 
and  patronage  of  the  government  in  her  own 
hands  and  in  that  of  her  family  connections,  the 
Woodvilles.  You  will  recollect  how  much  dif- 
ficulty that  had  made,  and  how  strong  a  party 
had  been  formed  against  her  coterie.  And  now, 
her  husband  being  dead,  what  she  feared  was 
not  that  Gloucester,  in  taking  the  young  king 
away  from  the  custody  of  her  relatives,  and 
sending  those  relatives  off  as  prisoners  to  the 
north,  meant  any  hostility  to  the  young  king, 
but  only  against  her  and  the  whole  Woodville 
interest,  of  which  she  was  the  head.  She  sup- 


224  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Uncertainty  in  respect  to  Gloucester's  designs. 

posed  that  Gloucester  would  now  put  the  power 
of  the  government  in  the  hands  of  other  fami- 
lies, and  banish  hers,  and  that  perhaps  he  would 
even  bring  her  to  trial  and  punishment  for  acts 
of  maladministration,  or  other  political  crimes 
which  he  would  charge  against  her.  It  was 
fear  of  this,  rather  than  any  rebellion  against 
the  right  of  Edward  the  Fifth  to  reign,  which 
made  her  in  such  haste  to  flee  to  sanctuary. 

It  was,  however,  somewhat  uncertain  what 
Gloucester  intended  to  do.  His  professions 
were  all  very  fair  in  respect  to  his  allegiance  to 
the  young  king.  He  sent  a  messenger  to  Lon- 
don, immediately  after  seizing  the  king,  to  ex- 
plain his  views  and  motives  in  the  act,  and  in 
this  communication  he  stated  distinctly  that  his 
only  object  was  to  prevent  the  king's  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Woodville  family,  and 
not  at  all  to  oppose  his  coronation. 

"  It  neyther  is  reason,"  said  he  in  his  letter, 
"  nor  in  any  wise  to  be  suffered  that  the  young 
kynge,  our  master  and  kinsman,  should  be  in 
the  hands  of  custody  of  his  mother's  kindred, 
sequestered  in  great  measure  from  our  compa- 
nie  and  attendance,  the  which  is  neither  honor- 
able to  hys  majestic  nor  unto  us." 

Thus  the  pretense  of  Richard  in  seizing  the 
king  was  simply  that  he  might  prevent  the  gov- 


TAKING  SANCTUARY.  225 

Arrest  of  the  leading  men  in  the  Woodville  party. 

eminent  under  him  from  falling  into  the  hands 
of  his  mother's  party.  But  the  very  decisive 
measures  he  took  in  respect  to  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  Woodville  family  led  many  to  sus- 
pect that  he  was  secretly  meditating  a  deeper 
design.  All  those  who  were  with  the  king  at 
the  time  of  his  seizure  were  made  prisoners  and 
sent  off  to  a  castle  in  the  north,  as  we  have 
already  said ;  and,  in  order  to  prevent  those 
who  were  in  and  near  London  from  making 
their  escape,  Richard  sent  down  immediately 
from  Northampton  ordering  their  arrest,  and 
appointing  guards  to  prevent  any  of  them  from 
flying  to  sanctuary.  When  the  archbishop, 
who  had  called  to  see  the  queen  at  the  palace, 
went  away,  he  saw  through  the  window,  al- 
though it  was  yet  before  the  dawn,  a  number 
of  boats  stationed  on  the  Thames  ready  to  in- 
tercept any  who  might  be  coming  up  the  river 
with  this  intent  from  the  Tower,  for  several  in- 
fluential members  of  the  family  resided  at  this 
time  at  the  Tower. 

The  queen  herself,  however,  as  it  happened, 
was  at  Westminster  Palace,  and  she  had  accord- 
ingly but  little  way  to  go  to  make  her  escape 
to  the  Abbey. 

The  space  which  was  inclosed  by  the  conse- 
crated limits,  from  within  which  prisoners  could 

9—15 


£26  KING  RICHARD  111. 

The  queen  "  on  the  rushes*"  Ker  daughters. 

not  be  taken,  was  somewhat  extensive.  It  in- 
cluded not  only  the  church  of  the  Abbey,  but 
also  the  Abbey  garden,  the  cemetery,  the  palace 
of  the  abbot,  the  cloisters,  and  various  other 
buildings  and  grounds  included  within  the  in,- 
closure.  As  soon  as  the  queen,  entered  these 
precincts,  she  sank  down  upon  the  floor  of  the 
hall,  "  alone  on  the  rushes,  all  desolate  and  dis- 
mayed." It  was  in  the  month  of  May,  and 
the  great  fire-place  of  the  hall  was  filled  with 
branches  of  trees  and  flowers,  while  me  floor, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  was  strew- 
ed with  green  rushes.  For  a  time  the  queen 
was  so  overwhelmed  with  her  sorrow  and  cha- 
grin that  she  was  scarcely  conscious  where  she 
was.  But  she  was  soon  aroused  from  her  de- 
spondency by  tbe  necessity  of  making  proper 
arrangements  for  herself  and  her  family  in  her 
new  abode.  She  had  two  daughters  with  her, 
Elizabeth  and  Cecily — beautiful  girls,  seven- 
teen and  fifteen  years  of  age ;  Bichard,  Duke 
of  York,  her  second  son,  and  several  younger 
children.  The  youngest  of  these  children, 
Bridget,  was  only  three  years  old.  Elizabeth, 
the  oldest,  afterward  became  a  queen,  and  little 
Bridget  a  nun. 

The  rooms  which  the  queen  and  her  family 
occupied  in  the  sanctuary  are  somewhat  partic- 


TAKING  SANCTUARY.  229 

Description  of  the  sanctuary.  Apartments 

ularly  described  by  one  of  the  writers  of  those 
days.  The  fire-place,  where  the  trees  and  flow- 
ers were  placed,  was  in  the  centre  of  the  hall, 
and  there  was  an  opening  in  the  roof  above, 
called  a  louvre,  to  allow  of  the  escape  of  the 
smoke.  This  hearth  still  remains  on  the  floor 
of  the  hall,  and  the  louvre  is  still  to  be  seen  in 
the  roof  above.*  The  end  of  the  hall  was  form- 
ed of  oak  panneling,  with  lattice- work  above, 
the  use  of  which  will  presently  appear.  A  part 
of  this  panneling  was  formed  of  doors,  which 
led  by  winding  stairs  up  to  a  curious  congeries 
of  small  rooms  formed  among  the  spaces  be- 
tween the  walls  and  towers,  and  under  the  arch- 
es above.  Some  of  these  rooms  were  for  pri- 
vate apartments,  and  others  were  used  for  the 
offices  of  buttery,  kitchen,  laundry,  and  the  like. 
At  the  end  of  this  range  of  apartments  was  the 
private  sitting-room  and  study  of  the  abbot. 
The  windows  of  the  abbot's  room  looked  down 
upon  a  pretty  flower-garden,  and  there  was  a 
passage  from  it  which  led  by  a  corridor  back 
to  the  lattices  over  the  doors  in  the  hall,  through 
which  the  abbot  could  look  down  into  the  hall 
at  any  time  without  being  observed,  and  see 
what  the  monks  were  doing  there. 

*  The  room  is  now  the  college  hall,  so  called,  of  West- 
minster school. 


230         KING  RICHARD  IIL  [A.D.1483. 

The  Jerusalem  chamber.     Richard' a  plans  in  respect  to  the  coronation. 

Besides  these  there  were  other  large  apart- 
ments, called  state  apartments,  which  were  used 
chiefly  on  great  public  occasions.  These  rooms 
were  larger,  loftier,  and  more  richly  decorated 
than  the  others.  They  were  ornamented  with 
oak  carvings  and  fluting,  painted  windows,  and 
other  such  decorations.  "There  was  one  in  par- 
ticular, which  was  called  the  Jerusalem  cham- 
ber. This  was  the  grand  receiving-room  of  the 
abbot.  It  had  a  great  Gothic  window  of  paint- 
ed glass,  and  the  walls  were  hung  with  curious 
tapestry.  This  room,  with  the  window,  the 
tapestry,  and  all  the  other  ornaments,  remains 
to  this  day. 

It  was  on  the  night  of  the  third  of  May  that 
the  queen  and  her  family  "  took  sanctuary." 
The  very  next  day,  the  fourth,  was  the  day  that 
the  council  had  appointed  for  the  coronation. 
But  Richard,  instead  of  coming  at  once  to  Lon- 
don, after  taking  the  king  under  his  charge,  so 
as  to  be  ready  for  the  coronation  at  the  appoint- 
ed day,  delayed  his  journey  so  as  not  to  enter 
London  until  that  day.  He  wished  to  prevent 
the  coronation  from  taking  place,  having  prob- 
ably other  plans  of  his  own  in  view  instead. 

It  is  not,  however,  absolutely  certain  that 
Richard  intended,  at  this  time,  to  claim  the 
crown  for  himself,  for  in  entering  London  he 


TAKING  SANCTUARY.  231 

Reception  of  Hichard's  party  at  London. 

formed  a  grand  procession,  giving  tlie  young 
king  the  place  of  honor  in  it,  and  doing  hom- 
age to  him  as  king.  Eichard  himself  and  all 
his  retinue  were  in  mourning.  Edward  was 
dressed  in  a  royal  mantle  of  purple  velvet,  and 
rode  conspicuously  as  the  chief  personage  of 
the  procession.  A  short  distance  from  the  city 
the  cavalcade  was  met  by  a  procession  of  the 
civic  authorities  of  London  and  five  hundred 
citizens,  all  sumptuously  appareled,  who  had 
come  out  to  receive  and  welcome  their  sover- 
eign, and  to  conduct  him  through  the  gates  into 
the  city.  In  entering  the  city  Eichard  rode  im- 
mediately before  the  king,  with  his  head  uncov- 
ered. He  held  his  cap  in  his  hand,  and  bowed 
continually  very  low  before  the  king,  designa- 
ting him  in  this  way  to  the  citizens  as  the  ob- 
ject of  their  homage.  He  called  out  also,  from 
time  to  time,  to  the  crowds  that  thronged  the 
waysides  to  see,  "  Behold  your  prince  and  sov- 
ereign." 

There  were  two  places  to  which  it  might 
have  been  considered  not  improbable  that  Eich- 
ard would  take  the  king  on  his  arrival  at  the 
capital — one  the  palace  of  Westminster,  at  the 
upper  end  of  London,  and  the  other  the  Tower, 
at  the  lower  end.  The  Tower,  though  often 
used  as  a  prison,  was  really,  at  that  time,  a 


232  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Richard  establishes  his  court  Dorset 

castle,  where  the  kings  and  the  members  of  the 
royal  family  often  resided.  Kichard,  however, 
did  not  go  to  either  of  these  places  at  first,  but 
proceeded  instead  to  the  bishop's  palace  at  St. 
Paul's,  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  Here  a  sort  of 
court  was  established,  a  grand  council  of  nobles 
and  officers  of  state  was  called,  and  for  some 
days  the  laws  were  administered  and  the  gor- 
ernment  was  carried  on  from  this  place,  all, 
however,  in  Edward's  name.  Money  was  coin- 
ed, also,  with  his  effigy  and  inscription,  and,  in 
fine,  so  far  as  all  essential  forms  and  technicali- 
ties were  concerned,  the  young  Edward  was 
really  a  reigning  king ;  but,  of  course,  in  respect 
to  substantial  power,  every  thing  was  in  Rich- 
ard's hands. 

The  reason  why  Richard  did  not  proceed  at 
once  to  the  Tower  was  probably  because  Dor- 
set, the  queen's  son,  was  in  command  there, 
and  he,  as  of  course  he  was  identified  with  the 
Woodville  party,  might  perhaps  have  made 
Richard  some  trouble.  But  Dorset,  as  soon  as 
he  heard  that  Richard  was  coming,  abandoned 
the  Tower,  and  fled  to  the  sanctuary  to  join  his 
mother.  Accordingly,  after  waiting  a  few  days 
at  the  bishop's  palace  until  the  proper  arrange- 
ments could  be  made,  the  king,  with  the  whole 
party  in  attendance  upon  him,  removed  to  the 


TAKING  SANCTUARY.  233 

The  queen's  friends  dismissed.  Richard's  titles. 

Tower,  and  took  up  their  residence  there.  The 
king  was  nominally  in  his  castle,  with  Richard 
and  the  other  nobles  and  their  retinue  in  at- 
tendance upon  him  as  his  guards.  Really  he 
was  in  a  prison,  and  his  uncle,  with  the  people 
around  him  who  were  under  his  uncle's  com- 
mand, were  his  keepers. 

A  meeting  of  the  lords  was  convened,  and 
various  political  arrangements  were  made  to 
suit  Richard's  views.  The  principal  members 
of  the  Woodville  family  were  dismissed  from 
the  offices  which  they  held,  and  other  nobles, 
who  were  in  Richard's  interest,  were  appointed 
in  their  place.  "A  new  day  was  appointed  for 
the  coronation,  namely,  the  22d  of  June.  The 
council  of  lords  decreed  also  that,  as  the  king 
was  yet  too  young  to  conduct  the  government 
himself  personally,  his  uncle  Gloucester  was, 
for  the  present,  to  have  charge  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs,  under  the  title  of  Lord 
Protector.  The  title  in  full,  which  Richard 
thenceforth  assumed  under  this  decree,  was, 
Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  brother  and  uncle 
of  the  king,  Protector  and  Defender,  Great 
Chamberlain,  Constable,  and  Lord  High  Ad- 
rniral  of  England. 

During  all  this  time  the  city  of  London,  and, 
indeed,  the  whole  realm  of  England,  as  far  as 


234         KING  KICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483 


Anxiety  of  the  people  of  England. 


the  tidings  of  what  was  going  on  at  the  capital 
spread  into  the  interior,  had  been  in  a  state  of 
the  greatest  excitement.  The  nobles,  and  the 
courtiers  of  all  ranks,  were  constantly  on  tho 
alert,  full  of  anxiety  and  solicitude,  not  know 
ing  which  side  to  take  or  what  sentiments  to 
avow.  They  did  not  know  what  turn  things 
would  finally  take,  and,  of  course,  could  not  tell 
what  they  were  to  do  in  order  to  be  found,  in 
the  end,  on  the  side  that  was  uppermost.  The 
common  people  in  the  streets,  with  anxious 
looks  and  many  fearful  forebodings,  discussed 
the  reports  and  rumors  that  they  had  heard. 
They  all  felt  a  sentiment  of  loyal  and  affection- 
ate regard  for  the  king — a  sentiment  which  was 
increased  and  strengthened  by  his  youth,  his 
gentle  disposition,  and  the  critical  and  helpless 
situation  that  he  was  in;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  character  of  Gloucester  inspired  them 
with  a  species  of  awe  which  silenced  and  sub- 
dued them.  Edward,  in  his  "  protector's"  hands, 
seemed  to  them  like  a  lamb  in  the  custody  of 
a  tiger. 

The  queen,  all  this  time,  remained  shut  up 
in  the  sanctuary,  in  a  state  of  extreme  suspense 
and  anxiety,  clinging  to  the  children  whom  she 
had  with  her,  and  especially  to  her  youngest 
son,  the  little~Duke  of  York,  as  the  next  heir  to 


A-.D.1483.]  TAKING  SANCTUARY.       235 


Forlorn  situation  of  the  queen. 


THE  PEOPLE  IN   THE   8TKKET8. 


the  crown,  and  her  only  stay  and  hope,  in  case, 
through  Richard's  violence  or  treachery,  any 
calamity  should  befall  the  king. 


236         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

IJichard  forms  plans  for  seizing  the  crown. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
EICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR. 

WHAT  sort  of  protection  Richard  afforded 
to  the  young  wards  who  were  commit- 
ted to  his  charge  will  appear  by  events  narra- 
ted in  this  chapter. 

It  was  now  June,  and  the  day,  the  twenty- 
second,  which  had  been  fixed  upon  for  the  cor- 
onation, was  drawing  nigh.  By  the  ancient 
usages  of  the  realm  of  England,  the  office  of  Pro- 
tector, to  which  Richard  had  been  appointed, 
would  expire  on  the  coronation  of  the  king. 
Of  course,  Richard  perceived  at  once  that  if 
he  wished  to  prolong  his  power  he  must  act 
promptly. 

He  began  to  revolve  in  his  mind  the  possibility 
of  assuming  the  crown  himself,  and  displacing 
the  children  of  his  older  brothers ;  for  Clarence 
left  children  at  his  decease  as  well  as  Edward. 
Of  course,  these  children  of  Clarence,  as  well  as 
those  of  Edward,  would  take  precedence  of  him 
in  the  line  of  succession,  being  descended  from 
an  older  brother.  Richard  therefore,  in  order 
to  establish  any  claim  to  the  crown  for  himself, 


RICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.    237 


His  plan  for  disposing  of  Edward's  children. 


CLARENCE'S  CHILDREN  HEARING  OF  THEIE  FATHER'S  DEATH. 


must  find  some  pretext  for  setting  aside  both 
these  branches  of  the  family.  The  pretexts 
which  he  found  were  these. 

In  respect  to  the  children  of  Edward,  his  plan 
was  to  pretend  to  have  discovered  proof  of  Ed- 
ward's having  been  privately  married  to  an- 
other lady  before  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth 


238  KING  RICHARD  III. 


Clarence' i  children.  Lady  Cecily.  Barnard's  Castle. 

Woodville.  This  would,  of  course,  render  the 
marriage  with  Elizabeth  Woodville  null,  and 
destroy  the  rights  of  the  children  to  any  inherit- 
ance from  their  father. 

In  respect  to  the  children  of  Clarence,  he  was 
to  maintain  that  they  were  cut  off  by  the  at- 
tainder which  had  been  passed  against  their 
father.  A  bill  of  attainder,  according  to  the 
laws  and  usages  of  those  times,  not  only  doom- 
ed the  criminal  himself  to  death,  but  cut  off  his 
children  from  all  rights  of  inheritance.  It  was 
intended  to  destroy  the  family  as  well  as  the 
man. 

Richard,  however,  did  not  at  once  reveal  his 
plans,  but  proceeded  cautiously  to  take  the  prop- 
er measures  for  putting  them  into  execution. 

In  the  first  place,  there  was  his  mother  to  be 
conciliated,  the  Lady  Cecily  Neville,  known, 
however,  more  generally  by  the  title  of  the 
Duchess  of  York.  She  lived  at  this  time  in  an 
old  family  residence  called  Baynard's  Castle, 
which  stood  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames.*  As 
soon  as  Richard  arrived  in  London  he  went  to 
see  his  mother  at  this  place,  and  afterward  he 
often  visited  her  there.  How  far  he  explained 
his  plans  to  her,  and  how  far  she  encouraged  or 
disapproved  «f  them,  is  not  known.  If  she  was 

*  For  a  view  of  this  castle,  see  engraving  on  page  273- 


EICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.    239 

Situation  of  the  queen's  friends  at  Pomfret  Castle. 

required  to  act  at  all  in  the  case,  it  must  have 
been  very  hard  for  her,  in  such  a  question  of 
life  and  death,  to  decide  between  her  youngest 
son  alive  and  the  children  of  her  first-born  in 
his  grave.  Mothers  can  best  judge  to  which 
side,  in  such  an  alternative,  her  maternal  sym- 
pathies would  naturally  incline  her. 

As  for  the  immediate  members  of  the  Wood- 
ville  family,  they  were  already  pretty  well  taken 
care  of.  The  queen  herself,  with  her  children, 
were  shut  up  in  the  sanctuary.  Her  brothers, 
and  the  other  influential  men  who  were  most 
prominent  on  her  side,  had  been  made  prison- 
ers, and  sent  to  Pomfret  Castle  in  the  north. 
Here  they  were  held  under  the  custody  of  men 
devoted  to  Eichard's  interest.  But  to  prevent 
the  possibility  of  his  having  any  farther  trouble 
with  them,  Richard  resolved  to  order  them  to 
be  beheaded.  This  resolution  was  soon  carried 
into  effect,  as  we  shall  presently  see. 

There  remained  the  party  of  nobles  and 
courtiers  that  were  likely  to  be  hostile  to  the 
permanent  continuance  of  the  power  of  Rich- 
ard, and  inclined  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the 
young  king.  The  nobles  had  not  yet  distinctly 
taken  ground  on  this  question.  There  were, 
iowever,  some  who  were  friendly  to  Richard, 
^hers  seemed  more  inclined  to  form  a  party 


240  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Lord  Hastings.  Richard's  councils.  The  Tower. 

against  him.  The  prominent  man  among  this 
last-named  set  was  Lord  Hastings.  There  were 
several  others  besides,  and  Richard  knew  very 
well  who  they  were.  In  order  to  circumvent 
and  defeat  any  plans  which  they  might  be  dis- 
posed to  form,  and  to  keep  the  power  fully  in 
his  own  hands,  he  convened  his  councils  of  state 
at  different  places,  sometimes  at  Westminster, 
sometimes  at  the  Tower,  where  the  king  was 
kept,  and  sometimes  at  his  own  residence,  which 
was  in  the  heart  of  London.  He  transferred 
the  public  business  more  and  more  to  his  own 
residence,  assembling  the  councilors  there  at 
all  times,  late  and  early,  and  thus  withdrawing 
them  from  attendance  at  the  Tower.  Very 
soon  Richard's  residence  in  London  became  the 
acknowledged  head-quarters  of  influence  and 
power,  and  all  who  had  petitions  to  present  or 
favors  to  obtain  gathered  there,  while  the  king 
in  the  Tower  was  neglected,  and  left  compara- 
tively alone. 

Still  the  form  of  holding  a  council  from  time 
to  time  at  the  Tower  was  continued,  and,  of 
course,  the  nobles  who  assembled  there  were 
those  most  inclined  to  stand  by  and  defend  the 
cause  of  the  king. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  on  the  13th  of 
June,  nine  days  before  the  time  appointed  for 


RICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.    241 


Nobles  in  council  at  the  Tower. 


the  coronation.  Richard  then,  having  carefully 
laid  his  plans,  was  prepared  to  take  decisive 
measures  to  break  up  the  party  who  were  dis- 
posed to  gather  around  the  king  at  the  Tower 
and  espouse  his  cause. 

On  that  day,  while  these  nobles  were  holding 
a  council  in  the  Tower,  suddenly,  and  greatly 
to  their  surprise,  Richard  walked  in  among 
them.  He  assumed  a  very  good-natured  and 
even  merry  air  as  he  entered  and  took  his  seat, 
and  began  to  talk  with  those  present  in  a  very 
friendly  and  familiar  tone.  This  was  for  the 
purpose  of  lulling  any  suspicions  which  they 
might  have  felt  on  seeing  him  appear  among 
them,  and  prevent  them  from  divining  the 
dreadful  intentions  with  which  he  had  come. 

"  My  lord,"  said  he,  turning  to  a  bishop  who 
sat  near  him,  and  who  was  one  of  those  that  he 
was  about  to  arrest,  "  you  have  some  excellent 
strawberries  in  your  garden,  I  understand.  I 
wish  you  would  let  me  have  a  plateful  of 
them." 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  June,  you  will 
recollect,  which  was  the  time  for  strawberries 
to  be  ripe. 

The  bishop  was  very  much  pleased  to  find 
the  great  Protector  taking  such  an  interest  in 
his  strawberries,  and  he  immediately  called  a 

9—15 


242         KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Richard's  proceedings  at  the  council. 

servant  and  sent  him  away  at  once  to  bring 
some  of  the  fruit. 

After  having  greeted  the  other  nobles  at  the 
board  in  a  somewhat  similar  style  to  this,  with 
jocose  and  playful  remarks,  which  had  the  ef- 
fect of  entirely  diverting  from  their  minds  every- 
thing like  suspicion,  he  said  that  he  must  go 
away  for  a  short  time,  but  that  he  would  pres- 
ently return.  In  the  mean  time,  they  might 
proceed,  he  said,  with  their  deliberations  on  the 
public  business. 

So  he  went  out.  He  proceeded  at  once  to 
make  the  preparations  necessary  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  desperate  measures  which  he 
had  determined  to  adopt.  He  stationed  armed 
men  at  the  doors  and  the  passages  of  the  part 
of  the  Tower  where  the  council  was  assembled, 
and  gave  them  instructions  as  to  what  they 
were  to  do,  and 'agreed  with  them  in  respect  to 
the  signals  which  he  was  to  give. 

In  about  an  hour  he  returned,  but  his  whole 
air  and  manner  were  now  totally  changed.  He 
came  in  with  a  frowning  and  angry  counte- 
nance, knitting  his  brows  and  setting  his  teeth, 
as  if  something  had  occurred  to  put  him  in  a 
great  rage.  He  advanced  to  the  council  table, 
and  there  accosting  Lord  Hastings  in  a  very- 
excited  and  angry  manner,  he  demanded, 


EICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.    243 

Richard's  proceedings  at  the  council. 


"What  punishment  do  you  think  men  de- 
serve who  form  plots  and  schemes  for  my  de- 
struction ?" 

Lord  Hastings  was  amazed  at  this  sudden  ap- 
pearance of  displeasure,  and  he  replied  to  the 
Protector  that  such  men,  if  there  were  any  such, 
most  certainly  deserved  death,  whoever  they 
might  be. 

"  It  is  that  sorceress,  my  brother's  wife,"  said 
Eichard,  "  and  that  other  vile  sorceress,  worse 
than  she,  Jane  Shore.  See !" 

This  allusion  to  Jane  Shore  was  somewhat 
ominous  for  Hastings,  as  it  was  generally  un- 
derstood that  since  the  king's  death  Lord  Hast- 
ings had  taken  Jane  Shore  under  his  protection, 
and  had  lived  in  great  intimacy  with  her. 

As  Eichard  said  this,  he  pulled  up  the  sleeve 
of  his  doublet  to  the  elbow,  to  let  the  company 
look  at  his  arm.  This  arm  had  always  been 
weak,  and  smaller  than  the  other. 

"  See,"  said  he,  "what  they  are  doing  to  me." 

He  meant  that  by  the  power  of  necromancy 
they  had  made  an  image  of  wax  as  an  effigy  of 
him,  according  to  the  mode  explained  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter,  and  were  now  melting  it  away 
by  slow  degrees  in  order  to  destroy  his  life,  and 
that  his  arm  was  beginning  to  pine  and  wither 


KING  RICHARD  III. 


Scene  in  the  council  chamber  at  the  Tower. 


THE   COUNCIL   IN   THE  TOWEE. 


The  lords  knew  very  well  that  the  state  in 
which  they  saw  Richard's  arm  was  its  natural 
condition,  and  that,  consequently,  his  charge 
against  thB  queen  and  Jane  Shore  was  only  a 
pretense,  which  was  to  be  the  prelude  and  ex- 
cuse for  some  violent  measures  that  he  was 
iabout  to  take.  They  scarcely  knew  what  to 
say.  At  last  Lord  Hastings  replied, 

"  Certainly,  my  lord,  if  they  have  committed 
so  heinous  an  offense  as  this,  they  deserve  a 
very  heinous~punishment." 

"If!"  repeated  the  Protector,  in  a  voice  of 


RICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.     245 

He  makes  signals  for  the  armed  men  to  come  in. 

thunder.  "  And  thou  serves!  me,  then,  it  seems, 
with  ifs  and  ands.  I  tell  thee  that  they  have 
so  done — and  I  will  make  what  I  say  good 
upon  thy  body,  traitor !" 

He  emphasized  and  confirmed  this  threat  by 
bringing  down  his  fist  with  a  furious  blow  upon 
the  table. 

This  was  one  of  the  signals  which  he  had 
agreed  upon  with  the  people  that  he  had  sta- 
tioned without  at  the  door  of  the  council  hall. 
A  voice  was  immediately  heard  in  the  ante- 
chamber calling  out  Treason.  This  was  again 
another  signal.  It  was  a  call  to  a  band  of  arm- 
ed men  whom  Richard  had  stationed  in  a  con- 
venient place  near  by,  and  who  were  to  rush  in 
at  this  call.  Accordingly,  a  sudden  noise  was 
heard  of  the  rushing  of  men  and  the  clanking 
of  iron,  and  before  the  councilors  could  recover 
from  their  consternation  the  table  was  sur- 
rounded with  soldiery,  all  "in  harness,"  that  is, 
completely  armed,  and  as  fast  as  the  foremost 
came  in  and  gathered  around  the  table,  others 
pressed  in  after  them,  until  the  room  was  com- 
pletely full. 

Richard,  designating  Hastings  with  a  gesture, 
said  suddenly,  "I  arrest  thee,  traitor." 

"What  I  we,  my  lord?"  exclaimed  Hastings, 
in  terror. 


246  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Hastings  is  executed.  Orders  sent  to  the  north. 

"  Yes,  thee,  traitor." 

Two  or  three  of  the  soldiers  immediately 
seized  Hastings  and  prepared  to  lead  him 
away.  Other  soldiers  laid  hands  upon  several 
of  the  other  nobles,  such  as  Kichard  had  desig- 
nated to  them  beforehand.  These,  of  course, 
were  the  leading  and  prominent  men  of  the 
party  opposed  to  Richard's  permanent  ascend- 
ency. Most  of  these  men  were  taken  away  and 
secured  as  prisoners  in  various  parts  of  the 
Tower.  As  for  Hastings,  Richard,  in  a  stern 
and  angry  manner,  advised  him  to  lose  no  time 
in  saying  his  prayers,  "  for,  by  the  Lord,"  said 
he,  "I  will  not  to  dinner  to-day  till  I  see  thy 
head  off." 

Then,  after  a  brief  delay,  to  allow  the  wretch- 
ed man  a  few  minutes  to  say  his  prayers,  Rich- 
ard nodded  to  the  soldiers  to  signify  to  them 
that  they  were  to  proceed  to  their  work.  They 
immediately  took  their  victim  out  to  a  green 
by  the  side  of  the  Tower,  and,  laying  him  down 
with  his  neck  across  a  log  which  they  found 
there,  they  cut  off  his  head  with  a  broad-axe. 

The  same  day  Richard  sent  off  a  dispatch  to 
the  north,  directed  to  the  men  who  had  in 
charge  the  Earl  Rivers,  and  the  other  friends  of 
the  king  who"  had  been  made  prisoners  when 
the  king  was  seized  at  Stony  Stratford,  order- 


EICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.    249 

Execution  of  the  prisoners  at  Pomfret  Castle. 

ing  them  all  to  be  beheaded.  The  order  was 
immediately  obeyed. 

The  person  who  had  charge  of  the  execution 
of  this  order  was  a  stern  and  ruffian-like  officer 
named  Sir  Richard  Ratcliffe.  This  man  is  quite 
noted  in  the  history  of  the  times  as  one  of  the 
most  unscrupulous  of  Richard's  adherents.  He 
was  a  merciless  man,  short  and  rude  in  speech, 
and  reckless  in  action,  destitute  alike  of  all  pity 
for  man  and  of  all  fear  of  God. 

The  place  where  the  prisoners  had  been  con- 
fined was  Pomfret  Castle.*  On  receiving  the 
orders  from  Richard,  Ratcliffe  led  them  out  to 
an  open  place  without  the  castle  wall  to  be  be- 
headed. The  executioners  brought  a  log  and 
an  axe,  and  the  victims  were  slaughtered  one 
after  another,  without  any  ceremony,  and  with, 
out  being  allowed  to  say  a  word  in  self-defense. 

The  whole  country  was  shocked  at  hearing 
of  these  sudden  and  terrible  executions ;  but 
the  power  was  in  Richard's  hands,  and  there  was 
no  one  capable  of  resisting  him.  The  death  of 
the  leaders  of  what  would  have  been  the  young 
king's  party  struck  terror  into  the  rest,  and 
Richard  now  had  every  thing  in  his  own  hands, 
or,  rather,  almost  every  thing;  for  the  queen 
and  her  family,  being  still  in  the  sanctuary, 
*  Called  sometimes  Pontefract. 


250         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Richard's  plans  in  reepect  to  the  Duke  of  York. 

were  beyond  his  reach.  He,  however,  had  noth- 
ing to  fear  from  her  personally,  and  there  were 
none  of  the  children  that  gave  him  any  concerc 
except  the  Duke  of  York,  the  king's  younger 
brother.  He,  you  will  recollect,  was  with  his 
mother  at  Westminster  when  the  king  was 
seized,  and  she  had  taken  him  with  the  other 
children  to  the  Abbey.  Richard  was  now  ex- 
tremely desirous  of  getting  possession  of  this 
boy. 

The  reason  why  he  deemed  it  so  essential  to 
get  possession  of  him  was  this.  The  child  was, 
it  is  true,  of  little  consequence  while  his  broth- 
er the  king  lived;  but  if  the  king  were  put 
out  of  the  way,  then  the  thoughts  and  the  hearts 
of  all  the  loyal  people  of  England,  Richard 
knew  very  well,  would  be  turned  toward  York 
as  the  rightful  successor.  But  if  they  could 
both  be  put  out  of  the  way,  and  if  the  people 
of  England  could  be  induced  to  consider  Clar- 
ence's children  as  set  aside  by  the  attainder  of 
their  father,  then  he  himself  would  come  for- 
ward as  the  true  and  rightful  heir  to  the  crown. 
It  is  true  that  it  was  a  part  of  his  plan,  as  has 
already  been  said,  to  declare  the  marriage  of 
Elizabeth  Woodville  with  the  king  null,  and 
thus  cut  off  both  these  children  of  Edward  from 
their  right  of  inheritance ;  but  he  knew  very 


RICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.    251 

He  determines  to  seize  him. 

well  that  even  if  a  majority  of  the  people  of 
England  were  to  assent  to  this,  there  would  cer- 
tainly be  a  minority  that  would  refuse  their  as- 
sent, and  would  adhere  to  the  cause  of  the  chil- 
dren, and  they,  if  the  children  should  fall  into 
their  hands,  mightr  at  some  future  time,  make 
themselves  very  formidable  to  him,  and  threat- 
en very  seriously  the  permanence  of  his  do- 
minion. It  was  quite  necessary,  therefore,  he 
thought,  that  he  should  get  both  children  into 
his  own  power. 

"I  must,"  said  he  to  himself,  therefore,  "I 
must,  in  some  way  or  other,  and  at  all  hazards, 
get  possession  of  little  Eichard." 

It  is  always  the  policy  of  usurpers,  and  of  all 
ambitious  and  aspiring  men  who  wish  to  seize 
and  hold  power  which  does  not  properly  belong 
to  them,  to  carry  the  various  measures  neces- 
sary to  the  attainment  of  their  ends,  especially 
those  likely  to  be  unpopular,  not  by  their  own 
personal  action,  but  by  the  agency  of  others, 
whom  they  put  forward  to  act  for  them.  Bich- 
ard  proceeded  in  this  way  in  the  present  in- 
stance. He  called  a  grand  council  of  the  peers 
of  the  realm  and  great  officers  of  state,  and 
caused  the  question  to  be  brought  up  there  of 
removing  the  young  Duke  of  York  from  the 
custody  of  his  mother  to  that  of  the  Protector, 


252  KING  RICHARD  Hi. 

The  case  of  the  little  Richard  argued. 

in  order  that  he  might  be  with  his  brother.  The 
peers  who  were  in  Richard's  interest  advocated 
this  plan ;  but  all  the  bishops  and  archbishops, 
who,  of  course,  as  ecclesiastics,  had  very  high 
ideas  of  the  sacredness  and  inviolability  of  a 
sanctuary,  opposed  the  plan  of  taking  the  duke 
away  except  by  the  consent  of  his  mother. 

The  other  side  argued  in  reply  to  them  that 
a  sanctuary  was  a  place  where  persons  could 
seek  refuge  to  escape  punishment  in  case  of 
crime,  and  that  where  no  crime  could  have  been 
committed,  and  no  charges  of  crime  were  made, 
the  principle  did  not  apply.  In  other  words, 
that  the  sanctuary  was  for  men  and  women 
who  had  been  guilty,  or  were  supposed  to  have 
been  guilty,  of  violations  of  law ;  but  as  chil- 
dren could  commit  no  crime  for  which  an  asy- 
lum was  necessary,  the  privileges  of  sanctuary 
did  not  extend  to  them. 

This  view  of  the  subj  ect  prevailed.  The  bish- 
ops and  archbishops  were  outvoted,  and  an  or- 
der in  council  was  passed  authorizing  the  Lord 
Protector  to  possess  himself  of  his  nephew,  the 
Duke  of  York,  and  for  this  purpose  to  take  him, 
if  necessary,  out  of  sanctuary  by  force. 

Still,  the  bishops  and  archbishops  were  very 
unwilling  that  force  should  be  used,  if  it  could 
possibly  be  avoided ;  and  finally  the  Archbish' 


KICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.    253 

Delegation  sent  to  the  Tower. 

op  of  Canterbury,  who  was  the  highest  prelate 
in  the  realm,  proposed  that  a  deputation  from 
the  council  should  be  sent  to  the  Abbey,  and 
that  he  should  go  with  them,  in  order  to  see 
the  queen,  and  make  the  attempt  to  persuade 
her  to  give  up  her  son  of  her  own  accord. 

After  giving  notice  to  the  abbot  of  their  in- 
tended visit,  and  making  an  arrangement  with 
him  and  with  the  queen  in  respect  to  the  time 
when  they  could  be  received,  the  delegation 
proceeded  in  state  to  the  Abbey  on  the  appoint- 
ed day,  and  were  received  by  the  abbot  and  by 
Elizabeth  with  due  ceremony  in  the  Jerusalem 
chamber,  the  great  audience  hall  of  the  Abbey, 
which  has  already  been  described. 

The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  was  at 
the  head  of  the  delegation,  explained  the  case 
to  the  queen.  They  wished  her,  he  said,  to  al- 
low her  son,  the  Duke  of  York,  to  leave  the 
sanctuary,  and  to  join  his  brother  the  king  at 
his  royal  residence  in  the  Tower.  He  would 
be  perfectly  safe  there,  he  said,  under  the  care 
of  his  uncle,  the  Lord  Protector. 

"  The  Protector  thinks  it  very  necessary  that 
the  duke  should  go,"  added  the  archbishop, 
"  to  be  company  for  his  brother.  The  king  is 
very  melancholy,  he  says,  for  want  of  a  play- 
fellow." 


254  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Interview  with  the  mother  of  the  princes. 

"  And  so  the  Protector,"  replied  the  queen — 
"  God  grant  that  he  may  really  prove  a  pro- 
tector— thinks  that  the  king  needs  a  playfel- 
low !  And  can  no  playfellow  be  found  for  him 
except  his  brother? 

"  Besides,"  she  added,  "  he  is  not  in  a  mood 
to  play.  He  is  not  well.  They  must  find  some 
other  playmate  for  his  brother.  Just  as  if 
princes,  while  they  are  so  young,  could  not  as 
well  have  some  one  to  play  with  them  not  of 
their  own  rank,  or  as  if  a  boy  must  have  his 
brother,  and  nobody  else  for  his  mate,  when 
every  body  knows  that  boys  are  more  likely 
to  disagree  with  their  brothers  than  they  are 
with  other  children." 

The  archbishop,  in  reply,  proceeded  to  argue 
the  case  with  the  queen,  and  to  represent  the 
necessity,  arising  from  reasons  of  state,  why  the 
young  duke  should  be  committed  to  the  charge 
of  his  uncle.  He  explained  to  her,  too,  that  the 
Lord  Protector  had  been  fully  authorized,  by  a 
decree  of  the  council,  to  come  and  take  his 
nephew  from  the  Abbey,  and  to  employ  force,  if 
necessary,  to  effect  the  purpose,  but  that  it  would 
be  much  better,  both  for  the  queen  herself  and 
the  young  duke,  as  well  as  for  all  concerned, 
that  the  affair  should  be.  settled  in  a  peaceable 
and  amicable  manner. 


RICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.    255 

The  queen  is  forced  to  give  up  the  child. 

The  unhappy  queen  saw  at  last  that  there 
was  no  alternative  but  for  her  to  submit  to  her 
fate  and  give  up  her  boy.  Slowly  and  reluc- 
tantly she  came  to  this  conclusion,  and  finally 
gave  her  consent.  Richard  was  brought  in. 
His  mother  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  again 
addressed  the  archbishop  and  the  delegation, 
speaking  substantially  as  follows : 

"  My  lord,"  said  she,  "  and  all  my  lords  now 
present,  I  will  not  be  so  suspicious  as  to  mis- 
trust the  promises  you  make  me,  or  to  believe 
that  you  are  dealing  otherwise  than  fairly  and 
honorably  by  me.  Here  is  my  son.  I  give 
him  up  to  your  charge.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
he  would  be  safe  here  under  my  protection,  if 
I  could  be  allowed  to  keep  him  with  me,  al- 
though I  have  enemies  that  so  hate  me  and  all 
my  blood,  that  I  believe,  if  they  thought  they 
had  any  of  it  in  their  own  veins,  they  would 
open  them  to  let  it  flow  out. 

"  I  give  him  up,  at  your  demand,  to  the  pro- 
tection of  his  brother  and  his  uncle.  And  yet 
I  know  well  that  the  desire  of  a  kingdom  knows 
no  kindred.  Brothers  have  been  their  broth- 
ers' bane,  and  can  these  nephews  be  sure  of  their 
uncle  ?  The  boys  would  be  safe  if  kept  asun- 
der ;  together — I  do  not  know.  Nevertheless, 
I  here  deliver  my  son,  and  with  him  his  broth- 


256         KING  RICHARD  III.  [AD.  1483. 

The  parting  scene.  The  prince  is  taken  away. 

er's  life,  into  your  hands,  and  of  you  shall  I  re- 
quire them  both,  before  God  and  man.  I  know 
that  you  are  faithful  and  true  in  what  you  in- 
tend, and  you  have  power,  moreover,  to  keep 
the  children  safe,  if  you  will.  If  you  think  that 
I  am  over-anxious  and  fear  too  much,  take  care 
that  you  yourselves  do  not  fear  too  little." 

Then  drawing  Richard  to  her,  she  kissed  him 
rery  lovingly,  the  tears  coming  to  her  eyes  as 
she  did  so. 

"  Farewell,"  she  said,  "  farewell,  mine  own 
sweet  son.  God  send  you  good  keeping.  I 
must  kiss  you  before  you  go,  for  God  knows 
when  we  shall  kiss  together  again." 

She  kissed  him  again  and  blessed  him,  and 
then  turned  to  go  away,  weeping  bitterly. 

The  child  began  to  weep  too,  from  sympathy 
with  his  mother's  distress.  The  archbishop, 
however,  took  him  by  the  hand  and  led  him 
away,  followed  by  the  rest  of  the  delegation. 

They  conveyed  the  young  duke  first  to  the 
hall  of  the  council,  which  was  very  near,  and 
thence  to  the  Lord  Protector's  residence  in  the 
city.  Here  he  was  received  with  every  mark 
of  consideration  and  honor,  and  a  handsome  es- 
cort was  provided  to  conduct  him  in  state  to 
the  Tower,  where  he  joined  his  brother. 

Richard  had  now  every  thing  under  his  own 


EICHARD  LORD  PROTECTOR.     257 

Hoth  princes  entirely  in  Richard's  power. 

control.     The  delivery  of  the  Duke  of  York 
into  his  hands  took  place  on  the  sixteenth  of 
June.     The  time  which  had  been  set  for  the 
coronation  was  the  twenty-second. 
9—17 


258         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

The  Duke  of  Buckingham.  Historical  doubts. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
PROCLAIMED  KING. 

"OICHARD,  having  thus  obtained  control  of 
J- ^  every  thing  essential  to  the  success  of  his 
plans,  began  to  prepare  for  action.  His  chief 
friend  and  confederate,  the  one  on  whom  he  re- 
lied most  for  the  execution  of  the  several  meas- 
ures which  he  proposed  to  take,  was  a  powerful 
nobleman  named  the  Duke  of  Buckingham.  I 
shall  proceed  in  this  chapter  to  describe  the  suc- 
cessive steps  of  the  course  which  Richard  and 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham  pursued  in  raising 
Richard  to  the  throne,  as  recorded  by  the  dif- 
ferent historians  of  those  days,  and  as  generally 
believed  since,  though,  in  fact,  there  have  been 
great  disputes  in  respect  to  these  occurrences, 
and  it  is  now  quite  difficult  to  ascertain  with 
certainty  what  the  precise  truth  of  the  case 
really  is.  This,  however,  is,  after  all,  of  no  great 
practical  importance,  for,  in  respect  to  remote 
transactions  of  this  nature,  the  thing  which  is 
most  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  general  edu- 
cation is  to-nnderstand  what  the  story  is,  in 
detail,  which  has  been  generally  received  among 


PROCLAIMED  KING.  259' 

Richard  at  Baynard's  Castle.  The  expense-book. 

mankind,  and  to  which  the  allusions  of  orators 
and  poets,  and  the  discussions  of  statesmen  and 
moralists  in  subsequent  ages  refer,  for  it  is  with 
this  story  alone  that  for  all  the  purposes  of  gen- 
eral reading  we  have  any  thing  to  do. 

Richard  was  residing  at  this  time  chiefly  at 
Baynard's  Castle  with  his  mother.*  The  young 
king  and  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  were 
in  the  Tower.  They  were  not  nominally  pris- 
oners, but  yet  Richard  kept  close  watch  and 
ward  over  them,  and  took  most  effectual  pre- 
cautions to  prevent  their  making  their  escape. 
The  queen,  Elizabeth  Woodville,  with  her 
daughters,  was  in  the  sanctuary.  Richard's 
wife,  with  the  young  child,  was  still  at  Middle- 
ham  Castle. 

It  is  a  very  curious  circumstance,  showing 
how  sometimes  records  of  the  most  trivial  and 
insignificant  things  come  down  to  us  from  an- 
cient times  in  a  clear  and  certain  form,  while 
all  that  is  really  important  to  know  is  involved 
in  doubt  and  obscurity — that  the  household  ex- 
pense-book of  Anne  at  Middleham  is  still  ex- 
tant, showing  all  the  little  items  of  expense  in- 
curred for  Richard's  son,  while  all  is  dispute  and 
uncertainty  in  respect  to  the  great  political 

*  For  view  of  this  castle,  see  page  273. 
17 


260  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Items  from  the  expense-book.  Richard's  plan*. 

schemes  and  measures  of  his  father.  In  this 
book  there  is  a  charge  of  22s.  9c?.  for  a  piece 
of  green  cloth,  and  another  of  Is.  Sd.  for  mak- 
ing it  into  gowns  for  "  my  lord  prince."  There 
is  also  a  charge  of  5s.  for  a  feather  for  him,  and 
13s.  Id  paid  to  a  shoemaker,  named  Dirick,  for 
a  pair  of  shoes.  This  expense-book  was  con- 
tinued after  Anne' left  Middleham  Castle1  to  go 
to  London,  as  will  be  presently  related.  There 
are  several  charges  on  the  journey  for  offerings 
and  gifts  made  by  the  child  at  churches  on  the 
way.  Two  men  were  paid  6s.  8d.  for  running 
on  foot  by  the  side  of  his  carriage.  These 
men's  names  were  Medcalf  and  Pacock.  There 
is  also  a  charge  of  2d.  for  mending  a  whip ! 

But  to  return  to  our  narrative.  The  time  for 
the  coronation  of  Edward  the  Fifth  was  draw- 
ing near,  but  Richard  intended  to  prevent  the 
performance  of  this  ceremony,  and  to  take  the 
crown  for  himself  instead.  The  first  thing  was 
to  put  in  circulation  the  story  that  his  two 
nephews  were  not  the  legitimate  children  of  his 
brother,  Edward  the  Fourth,  and  to  prepare  the 
way  for  this,  he  wished  first,  by  every  means,  to 
cast  odium  on  Edward's  character.  This  was 
easily  done,  for  Edward's  character  was  bad 
enough  to  merit  any  degree  of  odium  which  his 
brother  might  wish  it  to  bear. 


PKOCLAIMED  KING.  261 

Kichard's  determination  in  respect  to  Jane  Shore. 

Accordingly,  Eichard  employed  his  friends 
and  partisans  in  talking  as  much  as  possible  in 
all  quarters  about  the  dissoluteness  and  the 
vices  of  the  late  king.  False  stories  would 
probably  have  been  invented,  if  it  had  not  been 
that  there  were  enough  that  were  true.  These 
stories  were  all  revived  and  put  in  circulation, 
and  every  thing  was  made  to  appear  as  unfa- 
vorable for  Edward  as  possible.  Richard  him- 
self, on  the  other  hand,  feigned  a  very  strict  and 
scrupulous  regard  for  virtue  and  morality,  and 
deemed  it  his  duty,  he  said,  to  do  all  in  his  pow- 
er to  atone  for  and  wipe  away  the  reproach 
which  his  brother's  loose  and  wicked  life  had 
left  upon  the  court  and  the  kingdom.  Among 
other  things,  the  cause  of  public  morals  demand- 
ed, he  said,  that  an  example  should  be  made  of 
Jane  Shore,  who  had  been  the  associate  and 
partner  of  the  king  in  his  immoralities. 

Jane  Shore,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  the 
wife  of  a  rich  citizen  of  London,  whom  Edward 
had  enticed  away  from  her  husband  and  brought 
to  court.  She  was  naturally  a  very  amiable 
and  kind-hearted  woman,  and  all  accounts  con- 
cur in  saying  that  she  exercised  the  power  that 
she  acquired  over  the  mind  of  the  king  in  a 
very  humane  and  praiseworthy  manner.  She 
was  always  ready  to  interpose,  when  the  king 


262  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Jane's  character.  Her  jewelry  confiscated. 

contemplated  any  act  of  harshness  or  severity, 
to  avert  his  anger  and  save  his  intended  victim, 
and,  in  general,  she  did  a  great  deal  to  soften 
the  brutality  of  his  character,  and  to  protect  the 
innocent  and  helpless  from  the  wrongs  which 
he  would  otherwise  have  often  done  them. 
These  amiable  and  gentle  traits  of  character  do 
not,  indeed,  atone  at  all  for  the  grievous  sin 
which  she  committed  in  abandoning  her  hus- 
band and  living  voluntarily  with  the  king,  but 
they  did  much  toward  modifying  the  feeling  of 
scorn  and  contempt  with  which  she  would  have 
otherwise  been  regarded  by  the  people  of  En- 
gland. 

.  Richard  caused  Jane  to  be  arrested  and  sent 
to  prison.  He  also  seized  all  her  plate  and  jew- 
els, and  confiscated  them.  '  She  had  a  very  rich 
and  valuable  collection  of  these  things.*  Rich- 
ard then  caused  an  ecclesiastical  court  to  be  or- 
ganized, and  sent  her  before  it  to  be  tried.  The 
court,  undoubtedly  in  accordance  with  instruc- 
tions that  Richard  himself  gave  them,  sentenced 
her,  by  way  of  penance  for  her  sins,  to  walk  in 
midday  through  the  streets  of  London,  from 
one  end  of  the  city  to  the  other,  almost  entirely 

*  The  husband  with  whom  she  had  lived  before  she  be- 
came acquainted  with  Edward  was  a  wealthy  goldsmith 
-and  jeweler. 


PROCLAIMED  KING.  263 

The  punishment  of  Jane  Shore. 

undressed.  The  intention  of  this  severe  expo- 
sure was  to  designate  her  to  those  who  should 
assemble  to  witness  the  punishment  as  a  wan- 
ton, and  thus  to  put  her  to  shame,,  and  draw 
upon  her  the  scorn  and  derision  of  the  popu* 
lace.  They  found  some  old  and  obsolete  law 
which  authorized  such  a  punishment.  The 
sentence  was  carried  into  effect  on  a  Sunday. 
The  unhappy  criminal  was  conducted  through 
the  principal  streets  of  the  city,  wearing  a  night- 
dress, and  carrying  a  lighted  taper  in  her  hand, 
between  rows  of  spectators  that  assembled  by 
thousands  along  the  way  to  witness  the  scene. 
But,  instead  of  being  disposed  to  receive  her 
with  taunts  and  reproaches,  the  populace  were 
moved  to  compassion  by  her  saddened  look  and 
her  extreme  beauty.  Their  hearts  were  soft- 
ened by  the  remembrance  of  the  many  stories 
they  had  heard  of  the  kindness  of  her  heart, 
and  the  amiableness  and  gentleness  of  her  de- 
meanor, in  the  time  of  her  prosperity  and  pow- 
er. They  thought  it  hard,  too,  that  the  law 
should  be  enforced  so  rigidly  against  her  alone, 
while  so  many  multitudes  in  all  ranks  of  sociL 
ety,  high  as  well  as  low,  were  allowed  to  ga 
unpunished. 

Still,  Richard's  object  in  this  exhibition  was 
accomplished.     The  transaction  had  the  effect 


264         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Alleged  marriage  of  Edward  IV.  to  Elinor  Talbot. 

of  calling  the  attention  of  the  public  universal- 
ly and  strongly  to  the  fact  that  Edward  the 
Fourth  had  been  a  loose  and  dissolute  man,  and 
prepared  people's  minds  for  the  charge  which 
was  about  to  be  brought  against  him. 

This  charge  was  that  he  had  been  secretly 
married  to  another  lady  before  his  union  with 
Elizabeth  Woodville,  and  that  consequently  by 
this  latter  marriage  he  was  guilty  of  bigamy. 
Of  course,  if  this  were  true,  the  second  marriage 
would  be  null  and  void,  and  the  children  spring- 
ing from  it  would  have  no  rights  as  heirs. 

Whether  there  was  any  truth  in  this  story  or 
not  can  not  now  ever  be  certainly  known.  All 
that  is  certain  is  that  Richard  circulated  the  re- 
port, and  he  found  several  witnesses  to  testify 
to  the  truth  of  it.  The  maiden  name  of  the 
lady  to  whom  they  said  the  king  had  been  mar- 
ried was  Elinor  Talbot.  She  had  married  in 
early  life  a  certain  Lord  Boteler,  whose  widow 
she  was  at  the  time  that  Edward  was  alleged 
to  have  married  her.  The  marriage  was  per- 
formed in  a  very  private  manner  by  a  certain 
bishop,  nobody  being  present  besides  the  par- 
ties except  the  bishop  himself,  and  he  was 
strictly  charged  by  the  king  to  keep  the  affair 
a  profound  secret.  This  he  promised  to  do. 
Notwithstanding  his  promise,  however,  the  bish- 


PROCLAIMED   KING.  265 

Particulars  of  the  story.  Flan  for  publishing  it. 

op  some  time  subsequently,  after  the  king  had 
been  married  to  Elizabeth  Woodville,  revealed 
the  secret  of  the  previous  marriage  to  Glouces- 
ter, *at  which  the  king,  when  he  heard  of  it,  was 
extremely  angry.  He  accused  the  bishop  of 
having  betrayed  the  trust  which  he  had  reposed 
in  him,  and,  dismissing  him  at  once  from  office, 
shut  him  up  in  prison. 

Kichard  having,  as  he  said,  kept  these  facts 
secret  during  his  brother's  lifetime,  out  of  re- 
gard for  the  peace  of  the  family,  now  felt  it  his 
duty  to  make  them  known,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  wrong  which  would  be  done  by  allowing 
the  crown  to  descend  to  a  son  who,  not  being 
born  in  lawful  wedlock,  could  have  no  rights 
as  heir. 

After  disseminating  this  story  among  the  in- 
fluential persons  connected  with  the  court,  and 
through  all  the  circles  of  high  life,  during  the 
week, -it  was  arranged  that  on  the  following 
Sunday  the  facts  should  be  made  known  pub- 
licly to  the  people. 

There  was  a  large  open  space  near  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  in  the  very  heart  of  London,  where 
it  was  the  custom  to  hold  public  assemblies  of 
all  kinds,  both  religious  and  political.  There 
was  a  pulpit  built  on  one  side  of  this  space, 
from  which  sermons  were  preached,  orations 


266  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Sermon  preached  by  L)r.  Shaw  near  St.  Paul's. 

and  harangues  pronounced,  and  proclamations 
made.  Oaths  were  administered  here  too,  in 
cases  where  it  was  required  to  administer  oaths 
to  large  numbers  of  people. 

From  this  pulpit,  on  the  next  Sunday  after 
the  penance  of  Jane  Shore,  a  certain  Dr.  Shaw, 
who  was  a  brother  of  the  Lord-mayor  of  Lon- 
don, preached  a  sermon  to  a  large  concourse  of 
citizens,  in  which  he  openly  attempted  to  set 
aside  the  claims  of  the  two  boys,  and  to  prove 
that  Richard  was  the  true  heir  to  the  crown. 

He  took  for  his  text  a  passage  from  the  Wis- 
dom of  Solomon,  "  The  multiply  ing  brood  of 
the  ungodly  shall  not  thrive."  In  this  discourse, 
he  explained  to  his  audience  that  Edward, 
when  he  was  married  to  Elizabeth  "Woodville, 
was  already  the  husband  of  Elinor  Boteler,  and 
consequently  that  the  second  marriage  was  il- 
legal and  void,  and  the  children  of  it  entirely 
destitute  of  all  claims  to  the  crown.  He  also, 
it  is  said,  advanced  the  idea  that  neither  Ed- 
ward nor  Clarence  were  the  children  of  their 
reputed  father,  the  old  Duke  of  York,  but  that 
Richard  was  the  oldest  legitimate  son  of  the 
marriage,  in  proof  of  which  he  offered  the  fact 
that  Richard  strongly  resembled  the  duke  in 
person,  while  neither  Edward  nor  Clarence  had 
borne  any  resemblance  to  him  at  all. 


PROCLAIMED  KING.  267 

Ingenious  contrivance.  Coolness  of  the  people. 

It  was  arranged,  moreover — so  it  was  said — 
that,  when  the  preacher  came  to  the  passage 
where  he  was  to  speak  of  the  resemblance 
which  Richard  bore  to  his  father,  the  great  Duke 
of  York,  Richard  himself  was  to  enter  the  as- 
sembly as  if  by  accident,  and  thus  give  the 
preacher  the  opportunity  to  illustrate  and  con- 
firm what  he  had  said  by  directing  his  au- 
dience to  observe  for  themselves  the  resem- 
blance which  he  had  pointed  out,  and  also  to 
excite  them  to  a  burst  of  enthusiasm  in  Rich- 
ard's favor  by  the  eloquent  appeal  which  the 
incident  of  Richard's  entrance  was  to  awaken. 
But  this  intended  piece  of  stage  effect,  if  it  was 
really  planned,  failed  in  the  execution.  Rich- 
ard did  not  come  in  at  the  right  time,  and  when 
he  did  come  in,  either  the  preacher  managed 
the  case  badly,  or  else  the  people  were  very  lit- 
tle disposed  to 'espouse  Richard's  cause;  for 
when  the  orator,  at  the  close  of  his  appeal,  ex- 
pected applause  and  acclamations,  the  people 
uttered  no  response,  but  looked  at  each  other  in 
silence,  and  remained  wholly  unmoved. 

In  the  course  of  the  following  two  or  three 
days,  other  attempts  were  made  to  excite  the 
populace  to  some  demonstration  in  Richard's 
favor,  but  they  did  not  succeed.  The  Duke  of 
Buckingham  met  a  large  concourse  of  London- 


268  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Meeting  at  the  Guildhall.  The  people  do  not  respond. 

ers  at  the  Guildhall,  which  is  in  the  centre  of 
the  business  portion  of  the  city.  He  was  sup- 
ported by  a  number  of  nobles,  knights,  and  dis- 
tinguished citizens,  and  he  made  a  long  and 
able  speech  to  the  assembly,  in  which  he  argued 
strenuously  in  favor  of  calling  Richard  to  the 
throne.  He  denounced  the  character  of  the  for- 
mer king,  and  enlarged  at  length  on  the  dissi- 
pated and  vicious  life  which  he  had  led.  He 
also  related  to  the  people  the  story  of  Edward's 
having  been  the  husband  of  Lady  Elinor  Boteler 
at  the  time  when  his  marriage  with  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth took  place,  which  fact,  as  Buckingham 
showed,  made  the  marriage  with  Elizabeth 
void,  and  cut  off  the  children  from  the  inherit- 
ance. The  children  of  Clarence  had  been  cut 
off,  too,  by  the  attainder,  and  so  Richard  was  the 
only  remaining  heir. 

The  duke  concluded  his  harangue  by  asking 
the  assembly  if,  under  those  circumstances,  they 
would  not  call  upon  Richard  to  ascend  the 
throne.  A  few, of  the  poorer  sort,  very  likely 
some  that  had  been  previously  hired  to  do  it, 
threw  up  their  caps  into  the  air  in  response  to 
this  appeal,  and  cried  out,  "Long  live  King 
Richard !"  But  the  major  part,  comprising  all 
the  more  "respectable  portion  of  the  assembly, 
looked  grave  and  were  silent.  Some  who  were 


PROCLAIMED  KING.  269 

The  appeals  to  the  people  fail.  Grand  council  convened. 

pressed  to  give  their  opinion  said  they  must 
take  time  to  consider.  t 

Thus  these  appeals  to  the  people  failed,  so  far 
as  the  object  of  them  was  to  call  forth  a  popu- 
lar demonstration  in  Richard's  favor.  But  in 
one  respect  they  accomplished  the  object  in 
view :  they  had  the ;  effect  of  making  it  known 
throughout  London  and  the  vicinity  that  a  rev- 
olution was  impending,  and  thus  preparing 
men's  minds  to  acquiesce  in  the  change  more 
readily  than  they  might  perhaps  have  done  if 
it  had  come  upon  them  suddenly  and  with  a 
shock. 

On  the  following  day  after  the  address  at  the 
Guildhall,  a  grand  assembly  of  all  the  lords, 
bishops,  councilors,  and  officers  of  state  was  con- 
vened in  Westminster.  It  was  substantially  a 
Parliament,  though  not  a  Parliament  in  form. 
The  reason  why  it  was  not  called  as  a  Parliament 
in  form  was  because  Richard,  having  doubts,  as 
he  said,  about  the  right  of  Edward  to  the  throne, 
could  not  conscientiously  advise  that  any  pub- 
lic act  should  be  performed  in  his  name,  and  a 
Parliament  could  only  be  legally  convened  by 
summons  from  a  king.  Accordingly,  this  as- 
sembly was  only  an  informal  meeting  of  the 
peers  of  England  and  other  great  dignitaries 
of  Church  and  State,  with  a  view  of  consulting 


270         KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Arrangements  made  by  Buckingham.  The  petition. 

together  to  determine  what  should  be  done. 
Of  course,  it  was  all  fully  arranged  and  settled 
beforehand,  among  those  who  were  in  Richard's 
confidence,  what  the  result  of  these  delibera- 
tions was  to  be.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
Richard's  principal  friend  and  supporter,  man- 
aged the  business  at  the  meeting.  The  assem- 
bly consisted,  of  .course,  chiefly  of  the  party  of 
Richard's  friends.  The  principal  leaders  of  the 
parties  opposed  to  him  had  been  beheaded  or 
shut  up  in  prison ;  of  the  rest,  some  had  fled, 
some  had  concealed  themselves,  and  of  the  few 
who  dared  to  show  themselves  at  the  meeting, 
there  were  none  who  had  the  courage,  or  per- 
haps I  ought  rather  to  say  the  imprudence  and 
folly,  to  oppose  any  thing  which  Buckingham 
should  undertake  to  do. 

The  result  of  the  deliberations  of  this  council 
was  the  drawing  up  of  a  petition  to  be  present- 
ed to  Richard,  declaring  him  the  true  and  right- 
ful heir  to  the  crown,  and  praying  him  to  as- 
sume at  once  the  sovereign  power. 

A  delegation  was  appointed  to  wait  upon 
Richard  and  present  the  petition  to  him.  Buck- 
ingham was  at  the  head  of  this  delegation.  The 
petition  was  written  out  in  due  form  upon  a  roll 
of  parchment.  It  declared  that,  inasmuch  as  it 
was  clearly  established  that  King  Edward  the 


A.D.1483.]  PROCLAIMED  KING.          271 

Substance  of  the  petition.  Real  object  of  it 

Fourth  was  already  the  husband  of  "Dame  Ali- 
onora  Boteler,"  by  a  previous  marriage,  at  the 
time  of  his  pretended  marriage  with  Elizabeth 
Woodville,  and  that  consequently  his  children 
by  Elizabeth  Woodville,  not  L  ,ng  born  in  law- 
ful wedlock,  could  have  no  rights  of  inheritance 
whatever  from  their  father,  and  especially  could 
by  no  means  derive  from  him  any  title  to  the 
crown ;  and  inasmuch  as  the  children  of  Clar- 
ence had  been  cut  off  from  the  succession  by 
the  bill  of  attainder  which  had  been  passed 
against  their  father ;  and  inasmuch  as  Richard 
came  next  in  order  to  these  in  the  line  of  suc- 
cession, therefore  he  was  now  the  true  and 
rightful  heir.  This  his  right  moreover  by  birth 
was  now  confirmed  by  the  decision  of  the  es- 
tates of  the  realm  assembled  for  the  purpose ; 
wherefore  the  petition,  in  conclusion,  invited 
and  urged  him  at  once  to  assume  the  crown 
which  was  thus  his  by  a  double  title — the  right 
of  birth  and  the  election  of  the  three  estates  of 
the  realm. 

Of  course,  although  the  petition  was  address- 
ed to  Richard  as  if  the  object  of  it  was  to  pro- 
duce an  effect  upon  his  mind,  it  was  really  all 
planned  and  arranged  by  Richard  himself,  and 
by  Buckingham  in  conjunction  with  him ;  and 
the  representations  and  arguments  which  it 


272  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Kichard  receives  the  petition  at  Baynard's  Castle. 

contained  were  designed  solely  for  effect  on  the 
mind  of  the  public,  when  the  details  of  the 
transaction  should  be  promulgated  throughout 
the  land. 

The  petition  being  ready,  Buckingham,  in  be- 
half of  the  delegation,  demanded  an  audience 
of  the  Lord  Protector  that  they  might  lay  it 
before  him.  Eichard  accordingly  made  an  ap- 
pointment to  receive  them  at  his  mother's  res- 
idence at  Baynard's  Castle. 

At  the  appointed  time  the  delegation  appear- 
ed, and  were  received  in  great  state  by  Richard 
in  the  audience  hall.  The  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham presented  the  petition,  and  Richard  read 
it.  He  seemed  surprised,  and  he  pretended  to 
be  at  a  loss  what  to  reply.  Presently  he  began 
to  say  that  he  could  not  think  of  assuming  the 
crown.  He  said  he  had  no  ambition  to  reign, 
but  only  desired  to  preserve  the  kingdom  for 
his  nephew  the  king  until  he  should  become 
of  sufficient  age,  and  then  to  put  him  peaceably 
in  possession  of  it.  But  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham replied  that  this  could  never  be.  The  peo- 
ple of  England,  he  said,  would  never  consent  to 
be  ruled  by  a  prince  of  illegitimate  birth. 

"  And  if  you,  my  lord,"  added  the  duke,  "  re- 
fuse to  accept  the  crown,  they  know  where  to 
find  another  who  will  gladly  accept  it." 


9—18 


PROCLAIMED  KING. 


Richard  concludes  to  accept  the  crown. 


In  the  end,  Richard  allowed  himself  to  be 
persuaded  that  there  was  no  alternative  but  for 
him  to  accept  the  crown,  and  he  reluctantly 
consented  that,  on  the  morrow,  he  would  pro- 
ceed  in  state  to  Westminster,  and  publicly  as- 
sume the  title. and  the  prerogatives  of  king. 

Accordingly,  the  next  day,  a  grand  proces- 
sion was  fornied,  and  Richard  was  conducted 
with  great  pomp  to  Westminster  Hall.  Here 
he  took  his  place  on  the  throne,  with  the  lead- 
ing lords  of  his  future  court,  and  the  bishops 
and  archbishops  around  him.  The  rest  of  the 
hall  was  crowded  with  a  vast  concourse  of  peo- 
ple that  had  assembled  to  witness  the  ceremony. 

First  the  king  took  the  customary  royal  oath, 
which  was  administered  by  the  archbishop. 
He  then  summoned  the  great  judges  before 
him,  and  made  an  address  to  them,  exhorting 
them  to  administer  the  laws  and  execute  judg- 
ment between  man  and  man  in  a  just  and  im- 
partial manner,  inasmuch  as  to  secure  that  end, 
he  said,  would  be  the  first  and  greatest  object 
of  his  reign. 

After  this  Richard  addressed  the  concourse 
of  people  in  the  hall,  who,  in  some  sense,  repre- 
sented the  public,  and  pronounced  a  pardon  for 
all  offenses  which  had  been  committed  against 
himself,  and  ordered  a  proclamation  to  be  made 


276 


KING  RICHARD  III. 


Ceremonies  connected  with  the  investiture  of  the  king. 

of  a  general  amnesty  throughout  the  land. 
These  announcements  were  received  by  the 
people  with  loud  acclamations,  and  the  ceremo- 
ny was  concluded  by  shouts  of  "Long  live 
King  Richard!"  from  all  the  assembly. 

We  obtain  a  good  idea  of  this  scene  by  the 
following  engraving,  which  is  copied  exactly 
from  a  picture  contained  in  a  manuscript  vol- 
ume of  the  time. 


THE   KING   ON   HIS   THRONE. 


The  royal  dignity  having  thus  been  assumed 
by  the  new  king  at  the  usual  centre  and  seat 


A.D.1483.]  PROCLAIMED  KING.          277 

Itichard  marches  through  London.         Is  every  where  proclaimed  king. 

of  the  royal  power,  the  procession  was  again 
formed,  and  Kichard  was  conducted  to  West- 
minster Abbey  for  the  purpose  of  doing  the 
homage  customary  on  such  occasions  at  one  of 
the  shrines  in  the  church.  The  procession  of 
the  king  was  met  at  the  door  of  the  church  by 
a  procession  of  monks  chanting  a  solemn  an- 
them as  they  came. 

After  the  religious  ceremonies  were  com- 
pleted, Kichard,  at  the  head  of  a  grand  caval- 
cade of  knights,  noblemen,  and  citizens,  pro- 
ceeded into  the  city  to  the  Church  of  St.  Paul. 
The  streets  were  lined  with  spectators,  who  sa- 
luted the  king  with  cheers  and  acclamations  as 
he  passed.  At  the  Church  of  St.  Paul  more 
ceremonies  were  performed  and  more  procla- 
mations were  made.  The  popular  joy,  more  or 
less  sincere,  was  expressed  by  the  sounding  of 
trumpets,  the  waving  of  banners,  and  loud  ac- 
clamations of  "  Long  live  King  Kichard !"  At 
length,  when  the  services  in  the  city  were  con- 
cluded, the  king  returned  to  "Westminster,  and 
took  up  his  abode  at  the  royal  palace ;  and  while 
he  was  returning,  heralds  were  sent  to  all  the 
great  centres  of  concourse  and  intelligence  in 
and  around  London  to  proclaim  him  king. 

This  proclamation  of  Kichard  as  king  took 
place  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  June.  King  Ed- 


278         KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.U83. 

Extraordinary  character  of  the  reign  of  Edward  V. 

ward  the  Fourth  died  just  about  three  months 
before.  During  this  three  months  Edward  the 
Fifth  is,  in  theory,  considered  as  having  been 
the  King  of  England,  though,  during  the  whole 
period,  the  poor  child,  instead  of  exercising  anj 
kingly  rights  or  prerogatives,  was  a  helpless 
prisoner  in  the  hands  of  others,  who,  while  they 
professed  to  be  his  protectors,  were  really  his 
determined  and  relentless  foes. 


A.D.1483.]  THE  CORONATION.  279 

Plan  for  the  coronation.  Anne  is  sent  for,  and  comes  to  London. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  CORONATION. 

IT  was  on  the  26th  of  June,  1483,  that  Rich- 
ard  was  proclaimed  king,  under  the  circum- 
stances narrated  in  the  last  chapter.  In  order 
to  render  his  investiture  with  the  royal  author- 
ity complete,  he  resolved  that  the  ceremony  of 
coronation  should  be  immediately  performed. 
He  accordingly  appointed  the  6th  of  July  for 
the  day.  This  allowed  an  interval  of  just  ten 
days  for  the  necessary  preparations. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  send  to 
Middleham  Castle  for  Anne,  his  wife,  who 
now,  since  the  proclamation  of  Richard,  became 
Queen  of  England.  Eichard  wished  that  she 
should  be  present,  and  take  part  in  the  cere- 
mony of  the  coronation.  The  child  was  to  be 
brought  too.  His  name  was  Edward. 

It  seems  that  Anne  arrived  in  London  only 
on  the  3d  of  July,  three  days  before  the  ap- 
pointed day.  There  is  a  specification  in  the 
book  of  accounts  of  some  very  elegant  and 
costly  cloth  of  gold  bought  on  that  day  in  Lon- 
don, the  material  for  the  queen's  coronation  robe. 


280  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Procession  of  barges.      Great  crowds  of  spectators.      The  royal  barges. 

Eichard  determined  that  the  ceremony  of  his 
coronation  should  be  more  magnificent  than 
that  of  any  previous  English  monarch.  Prep- 
arations were  made,  accordingly,  on  a  very 
grand  scale.  There  were  several  preliminary 
pageants  and  processions  on  the  days  preceding 
that  of  the  grand  ceremony. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  which  was  Sunday,  the 
king  and  queen  proceeded  in  state  to  the  Tow- 
er. They  went  in  barges  on  the  river.  The 
party  set  out  from  Baynard's  Castle,  the  resi- 
dence of  Eichard's  mother,  and  the  place  where 
the  queen  went  on  her  arrival  in  London. 

The  royal  barges  destined  to  convey  the 
king  and  queen,  and  the  other  great  personages 
of  the  party,  were  covered  with  canopies  of 
silk,  and  were  otherwise  magnificently  adorned. 
Great  crowds  of  spectators  assembled  to  wit- 
ness the  scene.  Some  came  in  boats  upon  the 
water,  others  took  their  stations  on  the  shores, 
where  every  prominent  and  commanding  point 
was  covered  with  its  own  special  crowd,  and 
others  still  occupied  the  windows  of  the  build- 
ings that  looked  out  upon  the  river. 

Through  the  midst  of  this  scene  the  royal 
barges  passed  down  the  river  to  the  Tower. 
As  they  moved  along,  the  air  was  filled  with 
prolonged  and  continual  shouts  of  "  Long  live 


THE  CORONATION.  281 

Arrival  at  the  Tower.  Measures  adopted. 

Xing  Eichardl"  "Long  live  the  noble  Queen 
Anne!" 

Koyal  or  imperial  power,  once  firmly  estab- 
lished, will  never  fail  to  draw  forth  the  accla- 
mations of  the  crowd,  no  matter  by  what  means 
it  has  been  acquired. 

On  his  arrival  at  the  Tower,  Richard  was 
received  with  great  honor  by  the  authorities 
which  he  had  left  in  charge  there,  and  he  took 
possession  of  the  edifice  formally,  as  one  of  his 
own  royal  residences.  He  held  a  court  in  the 
great  council-hall.  At  this  court  he  created 
several  persons  peers  of  the  realm,  and  invest- 
ed others  with  the  honor  of  knighthood.  These 
were  men  whom  he  supposed  to  be  somewhat 
undecided  in  respect  to  the  course  which  they 
should  pursue,  and  he  wished,  by  these  compli- 
ments and  honors,  to  purchase  their  adhesion 
to  his  cause. 

He  also  liberated  some  persons  who  had  been 
made  prisoners,  presuming  that,  by  this  kind- 
ness, he  should  conciliate  their  good- will. 

He  did  not,  however,  by  any  means  extend 
this  conciliating  policy  to  the  case  of  the  young 
ex-king  and  his  brother ;  indeed,  it  would  have 
been  extremely  dangerous  for  him  to  have  done 
so.  He  was  aware  that  there  must  be  a  large 
number  of  persons  throughout  the  kingdom 


282  KING  EICHARD  III. 

The  princes  imprisoned.        Richard  and  Anne  proceed  to  Westminster. 

who  still  considered  Edward  as  the  rightful 
king,  and  he  knew  very  well  that,  if  any  of 
these  were  to  obtain  possession  of  Edward's 
person,  it  would  enable  them  to  act  vigorously 
in  his  name,  and  to  organize  perhaps  a  pow- 
erful party  for  the  support  of  his  claims.  He 
was  convinced,  therefore,  that  it  was  essential 
to  the  success  of  his  plans  that  the  boys  should 
be  kept  in  very  close  and  safe  custody.  So  he 
removed  them  from  the  apartments  which  they 
had  hitherto  occupied,  and  shut  'them  up  in- 
close confinement  in  a  gloomy  tower  upon  the 
outer  walls  of  the  fortress,  and  which,  on  ac- 
count of  the  cruel  murders  which  were  from 
time  to  time  committed  there,  subsequently  ac- 
quired the  name  of  the  Bloody  Tower. 

Kichard  and  the  queen  remained  at  the  Tow- 
er until  the  day  appointed  for  the  coronation, 
which  was  Tuesday.  The  ceremonies  of  that 
day  were  commenced  by  a  grand  progress  of 
the  king  and  his  suite  through  the  city  of  Lon- 
don back  to  Westminster,  only,  as  if  to  vary 
the  pageantry,  they  went  back  in  grand  cayal- 
cade  through  the  streets  of  the  city,  instead  of 
returning  as  they  came,  by  barges  on  the  river. 
The  concourse  of  spectators  on  this  occasion 
was  even  greater  than  before.  The  streets  were 
every  where  thronged,  and  very  strict  regula- 


THB   BLOODY   TOWEB. 


THE  CORONATION.  285 

Ceremonies  connected  with  the  coronation.       The  royal  paraphernalia. 

tions  were  made,  by  Richard's  command,  to  pre- 
vent disorder. 

On  arriving  at  Westminster,  the  royal  party 
proceeded  to  the  Abbey,  where,  first  of  all,  as 
was  usual  in  the  case  of  a  coronation,  certain 
ceremonies  of  religious  homage  were  to  be  per- 
formed at  a  particular  shrine,  which  was  re- 
garded as  an  object  of  special  sanctity  on  such 
occasions.  The  king  and  queen  proceeded  to 
this  shrine  from  the  great  hall,  barefooted,  in 
token  of  reverence  and  humility.  They  walk- 
ed, however,  it  should  be  added,  on  ornamented 
cloth  laid  down  for  this  purpose  on  the  stone 
pavements  of  the  floors.  All  the  knights  and 
nobles  of  England  that  were  present  accom- 
panied and  followed  the  king  and  queen  in 
their  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine. 

One  of  these  nobles  bore  the  king's  crown, 
another  the  queen's  crown,  and  others  still  va- 
rious other  ancient  national  emblems  of  royal 
power.  The  queen  walked  under  a  canopy  of 
silk,  with  a  golden  bell  hanging  from  each  of 
the  corners  of  it.  The  canopy  was  borne  by 
four  great  officers  of  state,  and  the  bells,  of 
course,  jingled  as  the  bearers  walked  along. 

The  queen  wore  upon  her  head  a  circlet  of 
gold  adorned  with  precious  stones.  There  were 
four  bishops,  one  at  each  of  the  four  corners  of 


286  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Religious  services.  The  king  and  queen  crowned.  The  dais. 

the  canopy,  who  walked  as  immediate  attend- 
ants  upon  the  queen,  and  a  lady  of  the  very 
highest  rank  followed  her,  bearing  her  train. 

When  the  procession  reached  the  shrine,  the 
king  and  queen  took  their  seats  on  each  side 
of  the  high  altar,  and  then  there  came  forth  a 
procession  of  priests  and  bishops,  clothed  in 
magnificent  sacerdotal  robes  made  of  cloth  of 
gold,  and  chanting  solemn  hymns  of  prayer  and 
praise  as  they  came. 

After  the  religious  services  were  completed, 
the  ceremony  of  anointing  and  crowning  the 
king  and  queen,  and  of  investing  their  persons 
with  the  royal  robes  and  emblems,  was  per- 
formed with  the  usual  grand  and  imposing  so- 
lemnities. After  this,  the  royal  cortege  was 
formed  again,  and  the  company  returned  to 
Westminster  Hall  in  the  same  order  as  they 
came.  The  queen  walked,  as  before,  under  her 
silken  canopy,  the  golden  bells  keeping  time, 
by  their  tinkling,  with  the  steps  of  the  bear- 
ers. 

At  Westminster  Hall  a  great  dais  had  been 
erected,  with  thrones  upon  it  for  the  king  and 
queen.  As  their  majesties  advanced  and  ascend- 
ed this  dais,  surrounded  by  the  higher  nobles 
and  chief  officers  of  state,  the  remainder  of  the 
procession,  consisting  of  those  who  had  come  to 


THE  CORONATION.  287 

Ceremonies  in  Westminster  Hall.  The  banquet. 


accompany  and  escort  them  to  the  place,  fol- 
lowed, and  filled  the  hall. 

As  soon  as  this  vast  throng  saw  that  the 
king  and  queen  were  seated  upon  the  dais, 
with  their  special  and  immediate  attendants 
around  them,  their  duties  were  ended,  and  they 
were  to  be  dismissed.  A  grand  officer  of  state, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  dismiss  them,  came  in  on 
horseback,  his  horse  covered  with  cloth  of  gold 
hanging  down  on  both  sides  to  the  ground. 
The  people,  falling  back  before  this  horse- 
man, gradually  retired,  and  thus  the  hall  was 
cleared. 

The  king  and  queen  then  rose  from  their 
seats  upon  the  dais,  and  were  conducted  to  their 
private  apartments  in  the  palace,  to  rest  and  re- 
fresh themselves  after  the  fatigues  of  the  public 
ceremony,  and  to  prepare  for  the  grand  banquet 
which  was  to  take  place  in  the  evening. 

The  preparations  for  this  banquet  were  made 
by  spreading  a  table  upon  the  dais  under  the 
canopy  for  the  king  and  queen,  and  four  other 
very  large  and  long  tables  through  the  hall  for 
the  invited  guests. 

The  time  appointed  for  the  banquet  was  four 
o'clock.  When  the  hour  arrived,  the  king 
and  queen  were  conducted  into  the  hall  again, 
and  took  their  places  at  the  table  which  had 


288  KING  RICHARD  III. 

The  royal  champion.  Grrnd  challenge. 

been  prepared  for  them  on  the  dais.  They  had 
changed  their  dresses,  having  laid  aside  their 
royal  robes,  and  the  various  paraphernalia  of 
office  with  which  they  had  been  indued  at 
the  coronation,  and  now  appeared  in  robes  of 
crimson  velvet  embroidered  with  gold,  and 
trimmed  with  costly  furs.  They  were  attended 
by  many  lords  and  ladies  of  the  highest  rank, 
scarcely  less  magnificently  dressed  than  them- 
selves. They  were  waited  upon,  while  at  table, 
by  the  noblest  persons  in  the  realm,  who  served 
them  from  the  most  richly  wrought  vessels  of 
gold  and  silver. 

After  the  first  part  of  the  banquet  was  over, 
a  knight,  fully  armed,  and  mounted  on  a  war- 
horse  richly  caparisoned,  rode  into  the  hall, 
having  been  previously  announced  by  a  herald. 
This  was  the  king's  champion,  who  came,  ac- 
cording to  a  custom  usually  observed  on  such 
occasions,  to  challenge  and  defy  the  king's  ene- 
mies, if  any  such  there  were.* 

The  trappings  of  the  champion's  horse  were 
of  white  and  red  silk,  and  the  armor  of  the 
knight  himself  was  bright  and  glittering.  As 
he  rode  forward  into  the  area  in  front  of  the 
dais,  he  called  out,  in  a  loud  voice,  demanding 
of  all  present  if  there  were  any  one  there  who 

*  See  Frontispiece. 


THE  OORONATIOIT.  289 

The  spectators.  Gauntlet  thrown  down.  A  largesse. 

disputed  the  claim  of  King  Richard  the  Third 
to  the  crown  of  England. 

All  the  people  gazed  earnestly  at  the  cham- 
pion while  he  made  this  demand,  but  no  one 
responded. 

The  champion  then  made  proclamation  again, 
that  if  any  one  there  was  who  would  come  for- 
ward and  say  that  King  Kichard  was  not  law- 
fully King  of  England,  he  was  ready  there  to 
fight  him  to  the  death,  in  vindication  of  Kich- 
ard's  right.  As  he  said  this,  he  threw  down 
his  gauntlet  upon  the  floor,  in  token  of  defi- 
ance. 

At  this,  the  whole  assembly,  with  one  voice, 
began  to  shout,  "Long  live  King  Kichard!" 
and  the  immense  hall  was  filled,  for  some  min- 
utes, with  thundering  acclamations. 

This  ceremony  being  concluded,  a  company 
of  heralds  came  forward  before  the  king,  and 
proclaimed  "  a  largesse,"  as  it  was  called.  The 
ceremony  of  a  largesse  consisted  in  throwing 
money  among  the  crowd  to  be  scrambled  for. 
Three  times  the  money  was  thrown  out,  on  this 
occasion,  among  the  guests  in  the  hall.  The 
amount  that  is  charged  on  the  royal  account- 
book  for  the  expense  of  this  largesse  is  one 
hundred  pounds. 

The  scrambling  of  a  crowd  for  money  thrown 
9— 19' 


290  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Modern  largesses.  The  torches. 

thus  among  them,  one  would  say,  was  a  very 
rude  and  boisterous  amusement, 'but  those  were 
rude  and  boisterous  times.  The  custom  holds 
its  ground  in  England,  in  some  measure,  to  the 
present  day,  though  now  it  is  confined  to  throw- 
ing out  pence  and  halfpence  to  the  rabble  in 
the  streets  at  an  election,  and  is  no  longer,  as 
of  yore,  relied  upon  as  a  means  of  entertaining 
noble  guests  at  a  royal  dinner. 

After  the  frolic  of  the  largesse  was  over,  the 
king  and  queen  rose  to  depart.  The  evening 
was  now  coming  on,  and  a  great  number  of 
torches  were  brought  in  to  illuminate  the  hall. 
By  the  light  of  these  torches,  the  company,  aft- 
er their  majesties  had  retired,  gradually  with- 
drew, and  the  ceremonies  of  the  coronation  were 
ended. 


THE   FATE  OF  THE  PRINCES.   291 

The  king  resolves  on  a  grand  progress  through  the  kingdom.      Oxford. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  FATE  OF  THE  PRINCES. 

AFTER  the  coronation,  King  Richard  and 
Anne,  the  queen,  went  to  Windsor,  and 
took  up  their  residence  there,  with  the  court, 
for  a  short  time,  in  order  that  Richard  might 
attend  to  the  most  important  of  the  preliminary 
arrangements  for  the  management  of  public  af- 
fairs, which  are  always  necessary  at  the  com- 
mencement of  a  new  reign.  As  soon  as  these 
things  were  settled,  the  king  set  out  to  make  a 
grand  progress  through  his  dominions,  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  the  congratulations  of  the 
people,  and  also  of  impressing  them,  as  much  as 
possible,  with  a  sense  of  his  grandeur  and  pow- 
.  er  by  the  magnificence  of  his  retinue,  and  the 
great  parades  and  celebrations  by  which  his 
progress  through  the  country  was  to  be  accom- 
panied. 

From  Windsor  Castle  the  king  went  first  to 
Oxford,  where  he  was  received  with  distin- 
guished honors  by  all  the  great  dignitaries  con- 
nected with  the  University.  Hence  he  proceed- 
ed to  Gloucester,  and  afterward  to  Worcester. 
19 


292  KING  EICHARD  III. 

State  of  public  sentiment.  Warwick  Castle. 


At  all  these  places  lie  was  received  with  great 
parade  and  pageantry.  Those  who  were  dis- 
posed to  espouse  his  cause,  of  course,  endeav- 
ored to  gain  his  favor  by  doing  all  in  their  pow- 
er to  give  e"clat  to  these  celebrations.  Those 
who  were  indifferent  or  in  doubt,  flocked,  of 
course,  to  see  the  shows,  and  thus  involuntarily 
contributed  to  the  apparent  popularity  of  the 
demonstrations  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
those  who  were  opposed  to  him,  and  adhered 
still  secretly  to  the  cause  of  young  King  Ed- 
ward, made  no  open  opposition,  but  expressed 
their  dissent,  if  they  expressed  it  at  all,  in  pri- 
vate conclaves  of  their  own.  They  could  not 
do  otherwise  than  to  allow  Richard  to  have  his 
own  way  during  the  hour  of  his  triumph,  their 
hour  being  not  yet  come. 

At  last,  Richard,  in  his  progress,  reached 
Warwick  Castle,  and  here  he  was  joined  by  the 
queen  and  the  young  prince,  who  had  remained 
at  Windsor  while  the  king  was  making  his  tour 
through  the  western  towns,  but  who  now  came 
across  the  country  with  a  grand  retinue  of  her 
own,  to  join  her  husband  at  her  own  former 
home ;  for  Warwick  Castle  was  the  chief  strong- 
hold and  principal  residence  of  the  great  Earl 
of  Warwick,  the  queen's  father.  The  king  and 
queen  remained  for  some  time  at  Warwick 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  PRINCES.    293 

Embassadore.  Arrival  at  York. 

Castle,  and  the  king  established  his  court  here, 
and  maintained  it  -with  great  pomp  and  splen- 
dor. Here  he  received  embassadors  from  Spain, 
France,  and  Burgundy,  who  had  been  sent  by 
their  several  governments  to  congratulate  him 
on  his  accession,  and  to  pay  him  their  homage. 
Each  of  these  embassadors  came  in  great  state, 
and  were  accompanied  by  a  grand  retinue ;  and 
the  ceremonies  of  receiving  them,  and  the  en- 
tertainments given  to  do  them  honor,  were  mag- 
nificent beyond  description. 

One  of  these  embassadors,  the  one  sent  by 
the  government  of  Spain,  brought  a  formal  pro- 
posal from  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  for  a  mar- 
riage between  their  daughter  and  Richard's  lit- 
tle son.  The  little  prince  was  at  that  time 
about  seven  years  of  age. 

After  remaining  some  time  at  Warwick  Cas- 
tle, the  royal  party  proceeded  northward,  and, 
after  passing  through  several  large  towns,  they 
arrived  finally  at  York,  which  was  then,  in 
some  sense,  the  northern  capital  of  the  king- 
dom. Here  there  was  another  grand  reception. 
All  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  the  surrounding 
country  came  in  to  honor  the  king's  arrival, 
and  the  ceremonies  attending  the  entrance  of 
the  royal  cortege  were  extremely  magnificent. 

While  th#  court  was  at  York,  Richard  re- 


294  KING  RICHARD  III. 

The  coronation  repeated.     Richard's  son.     Celebrations  and  rejoicings. 

peated  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation.  On  this 
occasion,  his  son,  the  little  Prince  Edward,  was 
brought  forward  in  a  conspicuous  manner.  He 
was  created  Prince  of  Wales  with  great  cere- 
mony, and  on  the  day  of  the  coronation  he  had 
a  little  crown  upon  his  head,  and  his  mother  led 
him  by  the  hand  in  the  procession  to  the  altar. 

The  poor  child  did  not  live,  however,  to 
realize  the  grand  destiny  which  his  father  thus 
marked  out  for  him.  He  died  a  few  months 
after  this  at  Middleham  Castle. 

The  coronation  at  York  was  attended  and 
followed,  as  that  at  London  had  been,  with  ban- 
quets and  public  parades,  and  grand  celebra- 
tions of  all  sorts,  which  continued  for  several 
successive  days,  and  the  hilarity  and  joy  which 
these  shows  awakened  among  the  crowds  that 
assembled  to  witness  them  seemed  to  indicate 
a  universal  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the  peo- 
ple of  England  in  Richard's  accession  to  the 
throne. 

Still,  although  outwardly  every  thing  looked 
fair,  Richard's  mind  was  not  yet  by  any  means 
at  ease.  From  the  very  day  of  his  accession, 
he  knew  well  that,  so  long  as  the  children 
of  his  brother  Edward  remained  alive  at  the 
Tower,  his  seat  on  the  throne  could  not  be  se- 
cure. There  must  necessarily  be,  he  was  well 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  PRINCES.    295 

His  determination  in  respect  to  the  children.  His  agent  Green. 

aware,  a  large  party  in  the  kingdom  who  were 
secretly  in  favor  of  Edward,  and  he  knew  that 
they  would  very  soon  begin  to  come  to  an  un- 
derstanding with  each  other,  and  to  form  plans 
for  effecting  a  counter-revolution.  The  most 
certain  means  of  preventing  the  formation  of 
these  plots,  or  of  defeating  them,  if  formed, 
would  be  to  remove  the  children  out  of  the 
way.  He  accordingly  determined  in  his  heartr 
before  he  left  London,  that  this  should  be  done.* 

He  resolved  to  put  them  to  death.  The 
deed  was  to  be  performed  during  the  course  of 
his  royal  progress  to  the  north,  while  the  minds, 
of  the  people  of  England  were  engrossed  with 
the  splendor  of  the  pageantry  with  which  his- 
progress  was  accompanied.  He  intended,  more- 
over, that  the  murder  should  be  effected  in  a 
very  secret  manner,  and  that  the  death  of  the 
boys  should  be  closely  concealed  until  a  time 
and  occasion  should  arrive  rendering  it  neces- 
sary that  it  should  be  made  public. 

Accordingly,  soon  after  he  left  London,  he 
sent  back  a  confidential  agent,  named  Green,  to 

*  I  say  he  determined ;  for,  although  some  of  Richard's 
defenders  have  denied  that  he  was  guilty  of  the  crime  which 
the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  history  charges  upon  him,  the 
evidence  leaves  very  little  room  to  doubt  that  the  dreadful 
tale  is  in  all  essential  particulars  entirely  true. 


296  KING  RICHARD  IIL 

Green's  return.         Conversation  with  the  page.         Sir  James  Tyrrel. 

Sir  Robert  Brakenbury,  the  governor  of  the 
Tower,  with  a  letter,  in  which  Sir  Robert  was 
commanded  to  put  the  boys  to  death. 

Green  immediately  repaired  to  London  to 
execute  the  commission.  Richard  proceeded 
on  his  journey.  When  he  arrived  at  Warwick, 
Green  returned  and  joined  him  there,  bringing 
back  the  report  that  Sir  Robert  refused  to  obey 
the  order. 

Richard  was  very  angry  when  Green  deliv- 
ered this  message.  He  turned  to  a  page  who 
was  in  waiting  upon  him  in  his  chamber,  and 
said,  in  a  rage, 

"Even  these  men  that  I  have  brought  up 
and  made,  refuse  to  obey  my  commands." 

The  page  replied, 

"  Please  your  majesty,  there  is  a  man  here  in 
the  ante-chamber,  that  I  know,  who  will  obey 
your  majesty's  commands,  whatever  they  may 
be." 

Richard  asked  the  page  who  it  was  that  he 
meant,  and  he  said  Sir  James  Tyrrel.  Sir 
James  Tyrrel  was  a  very  talented  and  accom- 
plished, but  very  unscrupulous  man,  and  he 
was  quite  anxious  to  acquire  the  favor  of  the 
king.  The  page  knew  this,  from  conversation 
which  Sir  James  had  had  with  him,  and  he  had 
been  watching  an  opportunity  to  recommend 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  PRINCES.   297 

Richard  employs  Tyrrel.        The  letter.       Tyrrel  arrives  at  the  Tower. 

Sir  James  to  Eichard's  notice,  according  to  an 
arrangement  that  Sir  James  had  made  with 
him. 

So  Eichard  ordered  that  Sir  Jaines  should 
be  sent  in.  When  he  came,  Eichard  held  a 
private  conference  with  him,  in  which  he  com- 
municated to  him,  by  means  of  dark  hints  and 
insinuations,  what  he  required.  Tyrrel  under- 
took to  execute  the  deed.  So  Eichard  gave 
him  a  letter  to  Sir  Eobert  Brakenbury,  in  which 
he  ordered  Sir  Eobert  to  deliver  up  the  keys 
of  the  Tower  to  Sir  James,  "  to  the  end,"  as  the 
letter  expressed  it,  "that  he  might  there  ac- 
complish the  king's  pleasure  in  such  a  thing  as 
he  had  given  him  commandment." 

Sir  James,  having  received  this  letter,  pro- 
ceeded to  London,  taking  with  him  such  per- 
sons as  he  thought  he  might  require  to  aid  him 
in  his  work.  Among  these  was  a  man  named 
John  Dighton.  John  Dighton  was  Sir  James's 
groom.  He  was  "  a  big,  broad,  square,  strong 
knave,"  and  ready  to  commit  any  crime  or  deed 
of  violence  which  his  master  might  require. 

On  arriving  at  the  Tower,  Sir  James  deliver- 
ed his  letter  to  the  governor,  and  the  governor 
gave  him  up  the  keys.  Sir  James  went  to  see 
the  keepers  of  the  prison  in  which  the  boys 
were  confined.  There  were  four  of  them.  He 


298  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Murder  of  the  princes.  Action  of  the  assassins. 

selected  from  among  these  four,  one,  a  man 
named  Miles  Forest,  whom  he  concluded  to 
employ,  together  with  his  groom,  John  Dighton, 
to  kill  the  princes.  He  formed  the  plan,  gave 
the  men  their  instructions,  and  arranged  it  with 
them  that  they  were  to  carry  the  deed  into  ex- 
ecution that  night. 

Accordingly,  at  midnight,  when  the  princes 
were  asleep,  the  two  men  stole  softly  into  the 
room,  and  there  wrapped  the  poor  boys  up  sud- 
denly in  the  bed-clothes,  with  pillows  pressed 
down  hard  over  their  faces,  so  that  they  could 
not  breathe.  The  boys,  of  course,  were  sud- 
denly awakened,  in  terror,  and  struggled  to  get 
free ;  but  the  men  held  them  down,  and  kept 
the  pillows  and  bed-clothes  pressed  so  closely 
over  their  faces  that  they  could  not  breathe  or 
utter  any  cry.  They  held  them  in  this  way 
until  they  were  entirely  suffocated. 

When  they  found  that  their  struggles  had 
ceased,  they  slowly  opened  the  bed-clothes  and 
lifted  up  the  pillows  to  see  if  their  victims  were 
really  dead. 

"Yes,"  said  they  to  each  other,  "they  are 
dead." 

The  murderers  took  off  the  clothes  which  the 
princes  had  on,  and  laid  out  the  bodies  upon  the 
bed.  Theythen  went  to  call  Sir  James  Tyrrel, 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  PRINCES.    299 

The  burial.  Joy  of  Richard.  Re-interment  of  the  bodies. 

who  was  all  ready,  in  an  apartment  not  far  off, 
awaiting  the  summons.  He  came  at  once,  and, 
when  he  saw  that  the  boys  were  really  dead,  he 
gave  orders  that  the  men  should  take  the  bodies 
down  into  the  court-yard  to  be  buried. 

The  grave  was  dug  immediately,  just  outside 
the  door,  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs  which  led  up 
to  the  turret  in  which  the  boys  had  been  con- 
fined. When  the  bodies  had  been  placed  in 
the  ground,  the  grave  was  filled  up,  and  some 
stones  were  put  upon  the  top  of  it. 

Immediately  after  this  work  had  been  accom- 
plished, Sir  James  delivered  back  the  keys  to 
the  governor  of  the  castle,  and  mounted  his 
horse  to  return  to  the  king.  He  traveled  with 
all  possible  speed,  and,  on  reaching  the  place 
where  the  king  then  was,  he  reported  what  he 
had  done. 

The  king  was  extremely  pleased,  and  he  re- 
warded Sir  James  very  liberally  for  his  energy 
and  zeal ;  he,  however,  expressed  some  dis- 
satisfaction at  the  manner  in  which  the  bodies 
had  been  disposed  of.  "  They  should  not  have 
been  buried,"  he  said,  "  in  so  vile  a  corner." 

So  Richard  sent  word  to  the  governor  of  the 
Tower,  and  the  governor  commissioned  a  priest 
to  take  up  the  bodies  secretly,  and  inter  them 
again  in  a  more  suitable  manner.  This  priest 


300  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Richard  keeps  the  murder  secret. 

soon  afterward  died,  without  revealing  the 
place  which  he  chose  for  the  interment,  and  so 
it  was  never  known  where  the  bodies  were 
finally  laid. 

Richard  gave  all  the  persons  who  had  been 
concerned  in  this  affair  very  strict  instructions 
to  keep  the  death  of  the  princes  a  profound  se- 
cret. He  did  not  intend  to  make  it  known, 
unless  he  should  perceive  some  indication  of 
an  attempt  to  restore  Edward  to  the  throne; 
and,  had  it  not  been  for  the  occurrence  of  cer- 
tain circumstances  which  will  be  related  in  the 
next  chapter,  the  fate  of  the  princes  might,  per- 
haps, have  thus  been  kept  secret  for  many 
fears. 


DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.          301 

Plots  formed  against  Richard.  Situation  of  Elizabeth  Woodville. 


CHAPTER  XYI. 
DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.  « 

WHILE  Kichard  was  making  his  trium- 
phal tour  through  the  north  of  England, 
apparently  receiving  a  confirmation  of  his  right 
to  the  crown  by  the  voice  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation of  the  country,  the  leaders  of  the  Lancas- 
ter party  were  secretly  beginning,  in  London, 
to  form  their  schemes  for  liberating  the  young 
princes  from  the  Tower,  and  restoring  Edward 
to  the  kingdom. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  who  still  remained,  with 
the  Princess  Elizabeth,  her  oldest  daughter,  and 
some  of  her  other  children,  in  the  sanctuary  at 
Westminster,  was  the  centre  of  this  movement. 
She  communicated  privately  with  the  nobles 
who  were  disposed  to  espouse  her  cause.  The 
nobles  had  secret  meetings  among  themselves 
to  form  their  plans.  At  these  meetings  they 
drank  to  the  health  of  the  king  in  the  Tower, 
and  of  his  brother,  the  little  Duke  of  York,  and 
pledged  themselves  to  do  every  thing  in  their 
power  to  restore  the  king  to  his  throne.  They 
little  knew  that  the  unhappy  princes  were  at 


302         KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Hans  of  the  conspirators.  Queen  Elizabeth's  agony. 

that  very  time  lying  together  in  a  corner  of  the 
court-yard  of  the  prison  in  an  ignoble  grave. 

At  length  the  conspirators'  plans  were  ma- 
tured, and  the  insurrection  broke  out.  Rich- 
ard immediately  prepared  to  leave  York,  at  the 
hfead  of  a  strong  force,  to  go  toward  London. 
At  the  same  time,  he  allowed  the  tidings  to  be 
spread  abroad  that  the  two  princes  were  dead. 
This  news  greatly  disconcerted  the  conspirators 
and  deranged  their  plans ;  and  when  the  dread- 
ful intelligence  was  communicated  to  the  queen 
in  the  sanctuary,  she  was  stunned,  and  almost 
killed  by  it,  as  by  a  blow.  "She  swooned  away, 
and  fell  to  the  ground,  where  she  lay  in  great 
agony,  like  a  corpse ;"  and  when  at  length  she 
was  restored  to  consciousness  again,  she  broke 
forth  in  shrieks  and  cries  of  anguish  so  loud, 
that  they  resounded  through  the  whole  Abbey, 
and  were  most  pitiful  to  hear.  She  beat  her 
breast  and  tore  her  hair,  calling  all  the  time  to 
her  children  by  their  names,  and -bitterly  re- 
proaching herself  for  her  madness  in  giving  up 
the  youngest  into  his  enemies'  hands.  After 
exhausting  herself  with  these  cries  and  lamen- 
tations, she  sank  into  a  state  of  calm  despair, 
and,  kneeling  down  upon  the  floor,  she  began, 
with  dreadful  earnestness  and  solemnity,  to  call 
upon  Almighty  God,  imploring  him  to  avenge 


<JUKEN   KLIZAHCTII   AT  THE  GRAVE  OF  HEE  CHILDREN. 


DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.          305 

Retribution.      Elizabeth  visits  the  grave.      The  Duke  of  Buckingham. 

the  death  of  her  children,  and  invoking  the  bit- 
terest curses  upon  the  head  of  their  ruthless 
murderer. 

It  was  but  a  short  time  after  this  that  Eich- 
ard's  child  died  at  Middleham  Castle,  as  stated 
in  the  last  chapter.  Many  persons  believed 
that  this  calamity  was  a  judgment  of  heaven, 
brought  upon  the  king  in  answer  to  the  be- 
reaved mother's  imprecations. 

It  is  said  that  when  Queen  Elizabeth  had  re- 
covered a  little  from  the  first  shock  of  her  grief, 
she  demanded  to  be  taken  to  her  children's 
grave.  So  they  conducted  her  to  the  Tower, 
and  showed  her  the  place  in  the  corner  of  the 
court-yard  where  they  had  first  been  buried. 

One  of  the  principal  leaders  of  the  conspiracy 
which  had  been  formed  against  Kichard  was. 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham — the  same  that  had 
taken  so  active  a  part  in  bringing  Richard  to- 
the  throne.  "What  induced  him  to  change  sides 
so  suddenly  is  not  certainly  known.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  he  was  dissatisfied  with  the  rewards 
which  Eichard  bestowed  upon  him.  At  any 
rate,  he  now  turned  against  the  king,  and  be- 
came the  leader  of  the  conspirators  that  were 
plotting  against  him. 

"When  the  conspirators  heard  of  the  death 
of  the  princes,  they  were  at  first  at  a  loss  to 
9—20 


306  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Richmond.  Elizabeth.  Plans  formed  for  a  marriage. 

know  what  to  do.  They  looked  about  among 
the  branches  of  the  York  and  Lancaster  fami- 
lies for  some  one  to  make  their  candidate  for 
the  crown.  At  last  they  decided  upon  a  cer- 
tain Henry  Tudor,  Earl  of  Richmond.  This 
Henry,  or  Richmond,  as  he  was  generally  call- 
ed, was  descended  indirectly  from  the  Lancas- 
ter line.  The  proposal  of  the  conspirators, 
however,  was,  that  he  should  marry  the  Prin- 
cess Elizabeth,  Queen  Elizabeth  Woodville's 
daughter,  who  has  already  been  mentioned 
among  those  who  fled  with  their  mother  to  the 
sanctuary.  Now  that  both  the  sons  of  Eliza- 
beth were  dead,  this  daughter  was,  of  course, 
King  Edward's  next  heir,  and  by  her  mar- 
riage with  Richmond  the  claims  of  the  houses 
of  York  and  Lancaster  would  be,  in  a  measure, 
combined. 

When  this  plan  was  proposed  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  she  acceded  to  it  at  once,  and  prom- 
ised that  she  would  give  her  daughter  in  mar- 
riage to  Richmond,  and  acknowledge  him  as 
king,  provided  he  would  first  conquer  and  de- 
pose King  Richard,  the  common  enemy. 

The  plan  was  accordingly  all  arranged. 
Richmond  was  in  France  at  this  time,  having 
fled  there -some  time  previous,  after  a  battle,  in 
which  his  party  had  been  defeated.  They 


DOMESTIC  TEOUBLES.          307 

Richmond  plans  an  invasion.          Buckingham's  attempt  to  co-operate. 

wrote  to  him,  explaining  the  plan.  He  imme- 
diately fell  in  with  it.  He  raised  a  small  force 
— all  that  he  could  procure  at  that  time — and 
set  sail,  with  a  few  ships,  from  the  port  of  St. . 
Malo,  intending  to  land  on  the  coast  of  Devon- 
shire, which  is  in  the  southwestern  part  of  En- 
gland. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  several  leaders  of  the 
rebellion  had  gone  to  different  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, in  order  to  raise  troops,  and  form  centres 
of  action  against  Richard.  Buckingham  went 
into  Wales.  His  plan  was  to  march  downr 
with  all  the  forces  that  he  could  raise  there,  to 
the  coast  of  Devonshire,  to  meet  Eichmond  on 
his  landing. 

This  Eichard  resolved  to  prevent.  He  raised 
an  army,  and  marched  to  intercept  Bucking- 
ham. He  first,  however,  issued  a  proclamation 
in  which  he  denounced  the  leaders  of  the  rebel- 
lion as  criminals  and  outlaws,  and  set  a  price 
upon  their  heads. 

Buckingham  did  not  succeed  in  reaching  the 
coast  in  time  to  join  Eichmond.  He  was  stop- 
ped by  the  Eiver  Severn,  which  you  will  see,  by 
looking  on  a  map  of  England,  came  directly  in 
his  way.  He  tried  to  get  across  the  river,  but 
the  people  destroyed  the  bridges  and  the  boats, 
and  he  could  not  get  over.  He  marched  up  to 

20 


308         KING  KICHARD  III.  [A.D.1483. 

Failure  of  the  plan.          Death  of  Buckingham.          Richmond  rctreaU. 

where  the  stream  was  small,  in  hopes  of  finding 
a  fording  place,  but  the  waters  were  so  swollen 
with  the  fall  rains  that  he  failed  in  this  attempt 
as  well  as  the  others.  The  result  was,  that 
Richard  came  up  while  Buckingham  was  en- 
tangled among  the  intricacies  of  the  ground 
produced  by  the  inundations.  Buckingham's 
soldiers,  seeing  that  they  were  likely  to  be  sur- 
rounded, abandoned  him  and  fled.  At  last 
Buckingham  fled  too,  and  hid  himself;  but  one 
of  his  servants  came  and  told  Richard  where  he 
was.  Richard  ordered  him  to  be  seized.  Buck- 
ingham sent  an  imploring  message  to  Richard, 
begging  that  Richard  would  see  him,  and,  be- 
fore condemning  him,  hear  what  he  had  to  say ; 
but  Richard,  in  the  place  of  any  reply,  gave 
orders  to  the  soldiers  to  take  the  prisoner  at 
once  out  into  the  public  square  of  the  town, 
and  cut  off  his  head.  The  order  was  imme- 
diately obeyed. 

When  Richmond  reached  the  coast  of  Dev- 
onshire, and  found  that  Buckingham  was  not 
there  to  meet  him,  he  was  afraid  to  land  with 
the  small  force  that  he  had  under  his  command, 
and  so  he  sailed  back  to  France. 

Thus  the  first  attempt  made  to  organize  a 
forcible  resistance  to  Richard's  power  totally 
failed. 


DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.          309 

Unhappy  situation  of  Elizabeth.  The  princess. 

The  unhappy  queen,  when  she  heard  these 
tidings,  was  once  more  overwhelmed  with  grief. 
Her  situation  in  the  sanctuary  was  becoming 
every  day  more  and  more  painful.  She  had 
long  since  exhausted  all  her  own  means,  and 
she  imagined  that  the  monks  began  to  think 
that  she  was  availing  herself  of  their  hospi- 
tality too  long.  Her  friends  without  would 
gladly  have  supplied  her  wants,  but  this  Eich- 
ard  would  not  permit.  He  set  a  guard  around 
the  sanctuary,  and  would  not  allow  any  one  to 
come  or  go.  He  would  starve  her  out,  he  said, 
if  he  could  not  compel  her  to  surrender  herself 
in  any  other  way. 

It  was,  however,  not  the  queen  herself,  but 
her  daughter  Elizabeth,  who  was  now  the  heir 
of  whatever  claims  to  the  throne  were  possessed 
by  the  family,  that  Eichard  was  most  anxious 
to  secure.  If  he  could  once  get  Elizabeth  into 
his  power,  he  thought,  he  could  easily  devise 
some  plan  to  prevent  her  marriage  with  Henry 
of  Eichmond,  and  so  defeat  the  plans  of  his  en- 
emies in  the  most  effectual  manner.  He  would 
have  liked  still  better  to  have  secured  Henry 
himself;  but  Henry  was  in  Brittany,  on  the  oth- 
er side  of  the  Channel,  beyond  his  reach. 

He,  however,  formed  a  secret  plan  to  get  pos- 
session of  Henry.  He  offered  privately  a  large 


310         KING  EICHARD  III.  [A.D.1484. 

He  seeks  to  get  possession  of  Richmond.        Parliament.        New  policy. 

reward  to  the  Duke  of  Brittany  if  lie  would 
seize  Henry  and  deliver  him  into  his,  Eichard's 
hands.  This  the  duke  engaged  to  do.  But 
Henry  gained  intelligence  of  the  plot  before  it 
was  executed,  and  made  his  escape  from  Brit- 
tany into  France.  He  was  received  kindly  at 
Paris  by  the  French  king.  The  king  even 
promised  to  aid  him  in  deposing  Eichard,  and 
making  himself  King  of  England  instead.  This 
alarmed  Eichard  more  than  ever. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  summer  passed  away 
and  the  autumn  came  on.  In  November  Eich- 
ard convened  Parliament,  and  caused  very  se- 
vere laws  to  be  passed  against  those  who  had 
been  engaged  in  the  rebellion.  Many  were  ex- 
ecuted under  these  laws,  some  were  banished, 
and  others  shut  up  in  prison.  Eichard  attempt- 
ed, by  these  and  similar  measures,  to  break  down 
the  spirit  of  his  enemies,  and  prevent  the  pos- 
sibility of  their  forming  any  new  organizations 
against  him.  Still,  notwithstanding  all  that  he 
could  do,  he  felt  very  ill  at  ease  so  long  as  Hen- 
ry and  Elizabeth  were  at  liberty. 

At  last,  in  the  course  of  the  winter,  he  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  trying  what  pretended  kind- 
ness could  do  in  enticing  the  queen  and  her 
family  out  _pf  sanctuary.  So  he  sent  a  messen- 
ger to  her.  to  make  fair  and  friendly  proposals 


A.D.M84.]  DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.      311 

The  plan  succeeds.  Excuses  for  the  queen. 

to  her  in  case  she  would  give  up  her  place  of 
refuge  and  place  herself  under  his  protection. 
He  said  that  he  felt  no  animosity  or  ill  will 
against  her,  but  that,  if  she  and  her  daughters 
would  trust  to  him,  he  would  receive  them  at 
court,  provide  for  them  fully  in  a  manner  suit- 
ed to  their  rank,  and  treat  them  in  all  respects 
with  the  highest  consideration.  She  herself 
should  be  recognized  as  the  queen  dowager  of 
England,  and  her  daughters  as  princesses  of  the 
royal  family ;  and  he  would  take  proper  meas- 
ures to  arrange  marriages  for  the  young  ladies, 
such  as  should  comport  with  the  exalted -sta- 
tion which  they  were  entitled  to  hold. 

The  queen  was  at  last  persuaded  to  yield  to 
these  solicitations.  She  left  the  sanctuary,  and 
gave  herself  and  her  daughters  up  to  Richard's 
control.  Many  persons  have  censured  her  very 
strongly  for  doing  this ;  but  her  friends  and  de- 
fenders allege  that  there  was  nothing  else  that 
she  could  do.  She  might  have  remained  in  the 
Abbey  herself  to  starve  if  she  had  been  alone, 
but  she  could  not  see  her  children  perish  of 
destitution  and  distress  when  a  word  from  her 
could  restore  them  to  the  world,  and  raise  them 
at  once  to  a  condition  of  the  highest  prosperity 
and  honor.  So  she  yielded.  She  left  the  Ab- 
bey, and  was  established  by  Richard  in  one  of 


312  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Her  situation  still  unhappy.  The  marriage  countermanded. 

his  palaces,  and  her  daughters  were  received  at 
court,  and  treated,  especially  the  eldest,  with  the 
utmost  consideration. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  outward  change 
in  her  condition,  the  real  situation  of  the  queen 
herself,  after  leaving  the  Abbey,  was  extreme- 
ly forlorn.  The  apartments  which  Eichard  as- 
signed to  her  were  very  retired  and  obscure. 
He  required  her,  moreover,  to  dismiss  all  her 
own  attendants,  and  he  appointed  servants  and 
agents  of  his  own  to  wait  upon  and  guard  her. 
The  queen  soon  found  that  she  was  under  a 
very  strict  surveillance,  and  not  much  less  a 
prisoner,  in  fact,  than  she  was  before. 

While  in  this  situation,  she  wrote  to  her  son 
Dorset,*  at  Paris,  commanding  him  to  put  an 
end  to  the  proposed  marriage  of  her  daughter 
Elizabeth  to  Henry  of  Eichmond,  "  as  she  had 
given  up,"  she  said,  "the  plan  of  that  alliance, 
and  had  formed  other  designs  for  the  princess." 
Henry  and  his  friends  and  partisans  in  Paris 
were  indignant  at  receiving  this  letter,  and  the 
queen  has  been  by  many  persons  much  blamed 
for  having  thus  broken  the  engagement  which 
she  had  so  solemnly  made.  Others  say  that 

*  The  Earl  of  Dorset,  you  will  recollect,  was  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth's son  by  her  first  marriage  ;  he,  consequently,  had  no 
claim  to  the  crown. 


DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.          313 

Richard's  plan  for  the  princess.  Elizabeth's  views  on  the  subject 

this  letter  to  Paris  was  not  her  free  act,  but  that 
it  was  extorted  from  her  by  Richard,  who  had 
her  now  completely  in  his  power,  and  could,  of 
course,  easily  find  means  to  procure  from  her 
any  writing  that  he  might  desire. 

Whether  the  queen  acted  freely  or  not  in 
this  case  can  not  certainly  be  known.  At  all 
events,  Henry,  and  those  who  were  acting  with 
him  at  Paris,  determined  to  regard  the  letter  as 
written  under  constraint,  and  to  go  on  with  the 
maturing  of  their  plans  just  as  if  it  had  never 
been  written. 

Richard's  plan  was,  so  it  was  said,  to  marry 
the  Princess  Elizabeth  to  his  own  son ;  for  the 
death  of  his  child,  though  it  has  been  already 
once  or  twice  alluded  to,  had  not  yet  taken 
place.  Richard's  son  was  very  young,  being 
at  that  time  about  eleven  years  old;  but  the 
princess  might  be  affianced  to  him,  and  the  mar- 
riage consummated  when  he  grew  up.  Eliza- 
beth herself  seems  to  have  fallen  in  with  this 
proposed  arrangement  very  readily.  The  pros- 
pect that  Henry  of  Richmond  would  ever  suc- 
ceed in  making  himself  king,  and  claiming  her 
for  his  bride,  was  very  remote  and  uncertain, 
while  Richard  was  already  in  full  possession  of 
power ;  and  she,  by  taking  his  side,  and  becom- 
ing the  affianced  wife  of  his  son,  became  at  once 


314  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Death  of  Richard's  son.  Sickness  of  Queen  Anne, 

the  first  lady  in  the  kingdom,  next  to  Queen 
Anne,  with  an  apparently  certain  prospect  of 
becoming  queen  herself  in  due  time. 

But  all  these  fine  plans  were  abruptly  brought 
to  an  end  by  the  death  of  the  young  prince, 
which  occurred  about  this  time,  at  Middleham 
Castle,  as  has  been  stated  before.  The  death 
of  the  poor  boy  took  place  in  a  very  sudden 
and  mysterious  manner.  Some  persons  sup- 
posed that  he  died  by  a  judgment  from  heaven, 
in  answer  to  the  awful  curses  which  Queen 
Elizabeth  Woodville  imprecated  upon  the  head 
of  the  murderer  of  her  children ;  others  thought 
he  was  destroyed  by  poison. 

Not  very  long  after  the  death  of  the  prince, 
his  mother  fell  very  seriously  sick.  She  was 
broken-hearted  at  the  death  of  her  son,  and 
pining  away,  she  fell  into  a  slow  decline.  Her 
sufferings  were  greatly  aggravated  by  Richard's 
harsh  and  cruel  treatment  of  her.  He  was 
continually  uttering  expressions  of  impatience 
against  her  on  account  of  her  sickness  and  use- 
lessness,  and  making  fretful  complaints  of  her 
various  disagreeable  qualities.  Some  of  these 
sayings  were  reported  to  Anne,  and  also  a  ru- 
mor came  to  her  ears  one  day,  while  she  was 
at  her  toilet,  that  Richard  was  intending  to  put 
her  to  deathT  She  was  dreadfully  alarmed  at 


AJX1484.]  DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.      315 

Sufferings  of  the  queen.  Suspicions. 

hearing  this,  and  she  immediately  ran,  half 
dressed  as  she  was,  and  with  her  hair  dishev- 
eled, into  the  presence  of  her  husband,  and, 
with  piteous  sobs  and  bitter  tears,  asked  him 
what  she  had  done  to  deserve  death.  Richard 
tried  to  quiet  and  calm  her,  assuring  her  that 
she  had  no  cause  to  fear. 

She,  however,  continued  to  decline ;  and  not 
long  afterward  her  distress  and  anguish  of 
mind  were  greatly  increased  by  hearing  that 
Bichard  was  impatient  for  her  death,  in  order 
that  he  might  himself  marry  the  Princess  Eliz- 
abeth, to  whom  every  one  said  he  was  now, 
since  the  death  of  his  son,  devoting  himself  per- 
sonally with  great  attention.  In  this  state  of 
suffering  the  poor  queen  lingered  on  through 
the  months  of  the  winter,  very  evidently,  though 
slowly,  approaching  her  end.  The  universal 
belief  was  that  Richard  had  formed  the  plan  of 
making  the  Princess  Elizabeth  his  wife,  and  that 
the  decline  and  subsequent  death  of  Anne  were 
owing  to  a  slow  poison  which  he  caused  to  be 
administered  to  her.  There  is  no  proof  that 
this  charge  was  true,  but  the  general  belief  in 
the  truth  of  it  shows  what  was  the  estimate 
placed,  in  those  times,  on  Richard's  character. 

It  is  very  certain,  however,  that  he  contem- 
plated this  new  marriage,  and  that  the  princess 


316  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Elizabeth's  eagerness  to  marry  the  king.  Death  of  the  queen. 

herself  acceded  to  the  proposed  plan,  and  was 
very  deeply  interested  in  the  accomplishment 
of  it.  It  is  said  that  while  the  queen  still  lived 
she  wrote  to  one  of  her  friends — a  certain  noble 
duke  of  high  standing  and  influence — in  which 
she  implored  him  to  aid  in  forwarding  her  mar- 
riage with  the  king,  whom  she  called  "  her 
master  and  her  joy  in  this  world — the  master 
of  her  heart  and  thoughts."  In  this  letter,  too, 
she  expressed  her  impatience  at  the  queen's 
being  so  long  in  dying.  "  Only  think,"  said 
she,  "  the  better  part  of  February  is  past,  and 
the  queen  is  still  alive.  Will  she  never  die  ?" 

But  the  patience  of  the  princess  was  not  des- 
tined to  be  taxed  much  longer.  The  queen 
sank  rapidly  after  this,  and  in  March  she  died. 

The  heart  of  Elizabeth  was  now  filled  with 
exultation  and  delight.  The  great  obstacle  to 
her  marriage  with  her  uncle  was  now  removed, 
and  the  way  was  open  before  her  to  become  a 
queen.  It  is  true  that  the  relationship  which 
existed  between  her  and  Eichard,  that  of  uncle 
and  niece,  was  such  as  to  make  the  marriage 
utterly  illegal.  But  Richard  had  a  plan  of  ob- 
taining a  dispensation  from  the  Pope,  which  he 
had  no  doubt  that  he  could  easily  do,  and  a 
dispensation  .from  the  Pope,  according  to  the 
ideas  of  those  times,  would  legalize  any  thing. 


DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.          317 


Remonstrance  of  Richard'  a  counselors. 


So  Richard  cautiously  proposed  his  plan  to  some 
of  his  confidential  counselors. 

His  counselors  told  him  that  the  execution 
of  such  a  plan  would  be  dangerous  in  the  high- 
est degree.  The  people  of  England,  they  said, 
had  for  some  time  been  led  to  think  that  the 
king  had  that  design  in  contemplation,  and  that 
the  idea  had  awakened  a  great  deal  of  indigna- 
tion throughout  the  country.  The  land  was 
full  of  rumors  and  murmurings,  they  said,  and 
those  of  a  very  threatening  character.  The 
marriage  would  be  considered  incestuous  both 
by  the  clergy  and  the  people,  and  would  be 
looked  upon  with  abhorrence.  Besides,  they 
said,  there  were  a  great  many  dark  suspicions 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  Richard  had 
been  himself  the  cause  of  the  death  of  his  for- 
mer wife  Anne,  in  order  to  open  the  way  for 
this  marriage,  and  now,  if  the  marriage  were 
really  to  take  place,  all  these  suspicions  would 
be  confirmed.  They  could  judge  somewhat, 
they  added,  by  the  depth  of  the  excitement 
which  had  been  produced  by  the  bare  suspicion 
that  such  things  were  contemplated,  how  great 
would  be  the  violence  of  the  outbreak  of  pub- 
lic indignation  if  the  design  were  carried  into 
effect.  Richard  would  be  in  the  utmost  danger 
of  losing  his  kingdom. 


318 


KING  EICHARD  III. 


Richard  gives  up  the  plan. 


PORTRAIT  OF   THE  PRINCESS   ELIZABETH. 

So  Richard  determined  at  once  to  abandon 
the  plan.  He  caused  it  to  be  announced  in  the 
most  public  manner  that  he  had  never  contem- 
plated such  a  marriage,  and  that  all  the  rumors 
attributing  such  a  design  to  him  were  malicious 


DOMESTIC  TROUBLES.          319 

Disappointment  of  Elizabeth. 

and  false.  He  also  sent  orders  abroad  through- 
<out  the  kingdom  requiring  that  all  persons  who 
had  circulated  such  rumors  should  be  arrested 
and  sent  to  London  to  be  punished. 

Elizabeth's  hopes  were,  of  course,  suddenly- 
blasted,  and  the  splendid  castle  which  her  im- 
.agination  had  built  fell  to  the  ground.  It  was 
only  a  temporary  disappointment,  however,  for 
she  became  Queen  of  England  in  the  end,  aft- 
er all. 


820  KING  KICHARD  III. 

Richmond  goea  OB  with  his  preparations  at  Paris. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
THE  FIELD  OF  BOSWORTH. 

TN  the  mean  time,  while  Kichard  had  been 
4-  occupied  with  the  schemes  and  manoeuvres 
described  in  the  last  chapter,  Eichmond  was  go- 
ing on  steadily  in  Paris  with  the  preparations 
that  he  was  making  for  a  new  invasion  of  En- 
gland. The  King  of  France  assisted  him  both 
by  providing  hinl  with  money  and  aiding  him 
in  the  enlistment  of  men.  When  Eichmond 
received  the  message  from  Elizabeth's  mother 
declaring  that  the  proposed  match  between  him 
and  the  princess  must  be  broken  off,  and  heard 
that  Eichard  had  formed  a  plan  for  marrying 
the  young  lady  himself,  he  paid  no  regard  to 
the  tidings,  but  declared  that  he  should  proceed 
with  his  plans  as  vigorously  as  ever,  and  that, 
whatever  counter-schemes  they  might  form, 
they  might  rely  upon  it  that  he  should  fully 
carry  into  effect  his  purpose,  not  only  of  depos- 
ing Eichard  and  reigning  in  his  stead,  but  also 
of  making  the  Princess  Elizabeth  his  wife,  ac- 
cording to  his  original  intention. 

At  length  the  expedition  was  ready,  and  the 


FIELD  OF  BOSWORT.H.          321 

The  expedition  sails.  Richard  issues  a  proclamation. 

fleet  conveying  it  set  sail  from  the  port  of  Har- 
fleur. 

Richard  attempted  to  arouse  the  people  of 
England  against  the  invaders  by  a  grand  proc- 
lamation which  he  issued.  In  this  proclama- 
tion he  designated  the  Earl  of  Eichmdnd  as 
"  one  Henry  Tudor,"  who  had  no  claim  what- 
ever, of  any  kind,  to  the  English  throne,  but 
who  was  coming  to  attempt  to  seize  it  without 
any  color  of  right.  In  order  to  obtain  assist- 
ance from  the  King  of  France,  he  had  promised, 
the  proclamation  said,  "  to  surrender  to  him,  in 
case  he  was  successful,  all  the  rich  possessions 
in  France  which  at  that  time  belonged  to  En- 
gland, even  Calais  itself;  and  he  had  promised, 
moreover,  and  given  away,  to  the  traitors  and 
foreigners  who  were  coming  with  him,  all  the 
most  important  and  valuable  places  in  the  king- 
dom— archbishoprics,  bishoprics,  duchies,  earl- 
doms, baronies,  and  many  other  inheritances  be- 
longing of  right  to  the  English  knights,  es- 
quires, and  gentlemen  who  were  now  in  the 
possession  of  them.  The  proclamation  farther 
declared  that  the  people  who  made  up  his  army 
were  robbers  and  murderers,  and  rebels  attaint- 
ed by  Parliament,  many  of  whom  had  made 
themselves  infamous  as  cutthroats,  adulterers, 
and  extortioners." 
9—21 


322         KING  KICHARD  III.  [A.D.1485. 

I'lans  of  the  campaign.  The  king  goes  to  Nottingham. 

Richard  closed  his  proclamation  by  calling 
upon  all  his  subjects  to  arm  themselves,  like 
true  and  good  Englishmen,  for  the  defense  of 
their  wives,  children,  goods,  and  hereditaments, 
and  he  promised  that  he  himself,  like  a  true  and 
courageous  prince,  would  put  himself  in  the 
forefront  of  the  battle,  and  expose  his  royal  per- 
son to  the  worst  of  the  dangers  that  were  to  be 
incurred  in  the  defense  of  the  country. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  issued  this  procla- 
mation, Richard  sent  forth  orders  to  all  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  commanding  the  nobles  and 
barons  to  marshal  their  forces,  and  make  ready 
to  march  at  a  moment's  warning.  He  dis- 
patched detachments  of  his  forces  to  the  south- 
ward to  defend  the  southern  coast,  where  he 
expected  Richmond  would  land,  while  he  him- 
self proceeded  northward,  toward  the  centre 
of  the  kingdom,  to  assemble  and  organize  his 
grand  army.  He  made  Nottingham  his  head- 
quarters, and  he  gradually  gathered  around 
him,  in  that  city,  a  very  large  force. 

In  the  mean  time,  while  these  movements 
and  preparations  had  been  going  on  on  both 
sides,  the  spring  and  the  early  part  of  the  sum- 
mer passed  away,  and  at  length  Richard,  at  Not- 
tingham, in  the  month  of  August,  received  the 
tidings  that~Richmond  had  landed  at  Milford 


A.D.1485.]  FIELD  OF  BOSWORTH.      323 

Richmond's  hopes  and  expectations.  The  various  negotiations. 

Haven,  on  the  southwestern  coast  of  Wales, 
with  a  force  of  two  or  three  thousand  men. 
Eichard  said  that  he  was  glad  to  hear  it.  "I 
am  glad,"  said  he,  "  that  at  last  he  has  come.  I 
have  now  only  to  meet  him,  and  gain  one  de- 
cisive victory,  and  then  the  security  of  my 
kingdom  will  be  disturbed  no  more." 

Richmond  did  not  rely  wholly  on  the  troops 
which  he  had  brought  with  him  for  the  success 
of  his  cause.  He  believed  that  there  was  a  great 
and  prevailing  feeling  of  disaffection  against 
Richard  throughout  England,  and  that,  as  soon 
as  it  should  appear  that  he,  Richmond,  was 
really  in  earnest  in  his  determination  to  claim 
and  take  the  crown,  and  that  there  was  a  rea- 
sonable prospect  of  the  success  of  his  enterprise, 
great  numbers  of  men,  who  were  now  ostensi- 
bly on  Richard's  side,  would  forsake  him  and 
join  the  invader.  So  he  sent  secret  messen- 
gers throughout  the  kingdom  to  communicate 
with  his  friends,  and  to  open  negotiations  with 
those  of  Richard's  adherents  who  might  possi- 
bly be  inclined  to  change  sides.  In  order  to 
give  time  for  these  negotiations  to  produce  their 
effect,  he  resolved  not  to  march  at  once  into  the 
interior  of  the  country,  but  to  proceed  slowly 
toward  the  eastward,  along  the  southern  coast 
of  Wales,  awaiting  intelligence.  This  plan  he 


32-i  KING  EICHARD  III. 

Richard  at  Nottingham.  He  commences  his  march. 

pursued.  His  strength  increased  rapidly  as  lie 
.advanced.  At  length,  when  he  reached  the 
•eastern  borders  of  Wales,  he  began  to  feel  strong 
enough  to  push  forward  into  England  to  meet 
Richard,  who  was  all  this  time  gathering  his 
forces  together  at  Nottingham,  and  preparing 
for  a  very  formidable  resistance  of  the  invader. 
He  accordingly  advanced  to  Leicester,  and 
thence  to  the  town  of  Tarn  worth,  where  there 
was  a  strong  castle  on  a  rock.  He  took  pos- 
session of  this  castle,  and  made  it,  for  a  time, 
his  head-quarters. 

In  the  mean  time,  Eichard,  having  received 
intelligence  of  Richmond's  movements,  and  hav- 
ing now  made  every  thing  ready  for  his  own 
advance,  determined  to  delay  no  longer,  but  to 
go  forth  and  meet  his  enemy.  Accordingly, 
one  morning,  he  marshaled  his  troops  in  the 
market-place  of  Nottingham,  "  separating  his 
foot-soldiers  in  two  divisions,  five  abreast,  and 
dividing  his  cavalry  so  as  to  form  two  wide- 
spreading  wings."  He  placed  his  artillery, 
with  the  ammunition,  in  the  centre,  reserving 
for  himself  a  position  in  a  space  immediately 
behind  it. 

"When  all  was  ready,  he  came  out  from  the 
castle  mounted  upon  a  milk-white  charger.  He 
-wore,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  times,  a 


FIELD  OF  BOSWORTH.          327 

The  long  column.  Bosworth.  The  two  armies. 

very  magnificent  armor,  resplendent  with  gold 
and  embroidery,  and  with  polished  steel  that 
glittered  in  the  sun.  Over  his  helmet  he  wore 
his  royal  crown.  He  was  preceded  and  follow- 
ed, as  he  came  out  through  the  castle  gates  and 
descended  the  winding  way  which  led  down 
from  the  hill  on  which  the  castle  stands,  by 
guards  splendidly  dressed  and  mounted — arch- 
ers, and  spearmen,  and  other  men  at  arms — 
with  ensigns  bearing  innumerable  pennants  and 
banners.  As  soon  as  he  joined  the  army  in  the 
town  the  order  was  given  to  march,  and  so  great 
was  the  number  of  men  that  he  had  under  his 
command  that  they  were  more  than  an  hour 
in  marching  out  of  Nottingham,  and  when  all 
had  finally  issued  from  the  gate,  the  column 
covered  the  road  for  three  miles. 

At  length,  after  some  days  of  manosuvring 
and  marching,  the  two  armies  came  into  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  each  other  near  the  town 
of  Bosworth,  at  a  place  where  there  was  a  wide 
field,  which  has  since  been  greatly  renowned  in 
history  as  the  Field  of  Bosworth.  The  two 
armies  advanced  into  the  neighborhood  of  this 
field  on  the  19th  and  20th  days  of  August,  and 
both  sides  began  to  prepare  for  battle. 

The  army  which  Kichard  commanded  was 
far  more  numerous  and  imposing  than  that  of 


328  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Richard's  depression  and  anxiety.  His  painful  suspicions. 

Richmond,  and  every  thing,  so  far  as  outward 
appearances  were  concerned,  promised  him  an 
easy  victory.  And  yet  Richmond  was  exultant 
in  his  confidence  of  success,  while  Richard  was 
harassed  with  gloomy  forebodings.  His  mind 
was  filled  with  perplexity  and  distress.  He  be- 
lieved that  the  leading  nobles  and  generals  on 
his  side  had  secretly  resolved  to  betray  him, 
and  that  they  were  prepared  to  abandon  him 
and  go  over  to  the  enemy  on  the  very  field  of 
battle,  unless  he  could  gain  advantages  so  de- 
cisive at  the  very  commencement  of  the  con- 
flict as  to  show  that  the  cause  of  Richmond  was 
hopeless.  Although  Richard  was  morally  con- 
vinced that  this  was  the  state  of  things,  he  had 
no  sufiicient  evidence  of  it  to  justify  his  taking 
any  action  against  the  men  that  he  suspected. 
He  did  not  even  dare  to  express  his  "suspicions, 
for  he  knew  that  if  he  were  to  do  so,  or  even 
to  intimate  that  he  felt  suspicion,  the  only  ef- 
fect would  be  to  precipitate  the  consummation 
of  the  treachery  that  he  feared,  and  perhaps 
•drive  some  to  abandon  him  who  had  not  yet 
fully  resolved  on  doing  so.  He  was  obliged, 
therefore,  though  suffering  the  greatest  anxiety 
and  alarm,  to  suppress  all  indications  of  his  un- 
easiness, except  to  his  most  confidential  friends. 
To  them  he  appeared,  as  one  of  them  stated, 


FIELD  OF  BOSWORTH.          329' 

Hifl  remorse.      The  battle.      Richard  betrayed.      Defection  of  his  men. 

"  sore  moved  and  broiled  with  melancholy  and 
dolor,  and  from  time  to  time  he  cried  out,  ask- 
ing vengeance  of  them  that,  contrary  to  their 
oath  and  promise,  were  so  deceiving  him." 

The  recollection  of  the  many  crimes  that  he- 
had  committed  in  the  attainment  of  the  power 
which  he  now  feared  he  was  about  to  lose  for- 
ever, harassed  his  mind  and  tormented  his  con- 
science, especially  at  night.  "  He  took  ill  rest 
at  nights,"  says  one  of  his  biographers,  "  using^ 
to  lie  long,  waking  and  musing,  sore  wearied 
with  care  and  watch,  and  rather  slumbered  than 
slept,  troubled  with  fearful  dreams." 

On  the  day  of  the  battle  Eichard  found  the- 
worst  of  his  forebodings  fulfilled.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  day  he  took  a  position  upon  an  ele- 
vated portion  of  the  ground,  where  he  could 
survey  the  whole  field,  and  direct  the  move- 
ments of  his  troops.  From  this  point  he  could 
see,  as  the  battle  went  on,  one  body  of  men  aft- 
er another  go  over  to  the  enemy.  He  was  over- 
whelmed with  vexation  and  rage.  He  cried 
out,  Treason!  Treason!  and,  calling  upon  hi& 
guards  and  attendants  to  follow  him,  he  rushed 
down  the  hill,  determined  to  force  his  way  to 
the  part  of  the  field  where  Richmond  himself 
was  stationed,  with  a  view  of  engaging  him 
and  killing  him  with  his  own  hand.  This,  he 


830  KING  RICHARD  III. 

Richard's  \VelL  Hia  despair.  Terrible  combat 

thought,  was  the  last  hope  that  was  now  left 
him. 

There  was  a  spring  of  water,  and  a  little 
brook  flowing  from  it  in  a  part  of  the  field 
where  he  had  to  pass.  He  stopped  at  this 
spring,  opened  his  helmet,  and  took  a  drink 
of  the  water.  He  then  closed  his  helmet  and 
rode  on.  * 

This  spring  afterward  received,  from  this  cir- 
cumstance, the  name  of  "Richard's  Well,"  and 
it  is  known  by  that  name  to  this  day. 

From  the  spring  Richard  rushed  forward,  at- 
tended by  a  few  followers  as  fearless  as  him- 
self, in  search  of  Richmond.  He  penetrated  the 
enemies'  lines  in  the  direction  where  he  sup- 
posed Richmond  was  to  be  found,  and  was  soon 
surrounded  by  foes,  whom  he  engaged  desper- 
ately in  a  hand-to-hand  encounter  of  the  most 
furious  and  reckless  character.  He  slew  one 
or  two  of  the  foremost  of  those  who  surround- 
ed him,  calling  out  all  the  time  to  Richmond  to 
come  out  and  meet  him  in  single  combat.  This 
Richmond  would  not  do.  In  the  mean  time, 
many  of  Richard's  friends  came  up  to  his  assist- 
ance. Some  of  these  urged  him  to  retire,  say- 
ing that  it  was  useless  for  him  to  attempt  to 
maintain  so  unequal  a  contest,  but  he  refused 
logo. 


FIELD  OF  BOSWORTH.          331 

He  refuses  to  fly.  Richard  in  killed.  Transfer  of  the  crown. 

"Not  one  foot  will  I  fly,"  said  he,  "so  long 
as  breath  bides  within  my  breast ;  for,  by  Him 
that  shaped  both  sea  and  land,  this  day  shall 
«nd  my  battles  or  my  life.  I  will  die  King  of 
England." 

So  he  fought  on.  Several  faithful  friends 
still  adhered  to  him  and  fought  by  his  side. 
His  standard-bearer  stood  his  ground,  with  the 
king's  banner  in  his  hand,  until  at  last  both  his 
legs  were  cut  off  under  him,  and  he  fell  to  the 
earth ;  still  he  would  not  let  the  banner  go, 
but  clung  to  it  with  a  convulsive  grasp  till  he 
•died. 

At  last  Richard  too  was  overpowered  by 
the  numbers  that  beset  him.  Exhausted  by 
his  exertions,  and  weakened  by  loss  of  blood, 
he  was  beaten  down  from  his  horse  to  the 
ground  and  killed.  The  royal  crown  which  he 
had  worn  so  proudly  into  the  battle  was  knock- 
ed from  his  head  in  the  dreadful  affray,  and 
trampled  in  the  dust. 

Lord  Stanley,  one  of  the  chieftains  who  had 
abandoned  Richard's  cause  and  gone  over  to 
the  enemy,  picked  up  the  crown,  all  battered 
and  bloodstained  as  it  was,  and  put  it  upon 
Richmond's  head.  From  that  hour  Richmond 
was  recognized  as  King  of  England.  He  reign- 
ed under  the  title  of  Henry  the  Seventh. 


332 


KING  RICHARD  III.  [A.D.1485. 


Flight  of  Richard's  troops. 


KING  HKNBT  VII. 


The  few  followers  that  had  remained  faithful 
to  Richard's  cause  up  to  this  time  now  gavej 
up  the  contest  and  fled.  The  victors  lifted  up 
the  dead  body  of  the  king,  took  off  the  armor, 
and  then  placed  the  body  across  the  back  of  a 
horse,  behind^  a  pursuivant-at-arms,  who,  thus 
mounted,  rode  a  little  behind  the  new  king  as 


FIELD  OF  BOSWORTH.          333 

Disposition  of  the  body.  Henry  marries  the  princess. 

he  retired  from  the  field  of  battle.  Followed 
by  tliis  dreadful  trophy  of  his  victory,  King 
Henry  entered  the  town  of  Leicester  in  tri- 
umph. The  body  of  Richard  was  exposed  for 
three  days,  in  a  public  place,  to  the  view  of  all 
beholders,  in  order  that  every  body  might  be 
satisfied  that  he  was  really  dead,  and  then  the 
new  king  proceeded  by  easy  journeys  to  Lon- 
don. The  people  came  out  to  meet  him  all 
along  the  way,  receiving  him  every  where  with 
shouts  and  acclamations,  and  crying,  "  King 
Henry!  King  Henry!  Long  live  our  sover- 
eign lord,  King  Henry !" 

For  several  weeks  after  his  accession  Hen- 
ry's mind  was  occupied  with  public  affairs,  but, 
as  soon  as  the  most  urgent  of  the  calls  upon  his 
attention  were  disposed  of,  he  renewed  his  pro- 
posals to  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  and  in  Janu- 
ary of  the  next  year  they  were  married.  It 
seems  to  have  been  a  matter  of  no  consequence 
to  her  whether  one  man  or  another  was  her 
husband,  provided  he  was  only  King  of  En- 
gland, so  that  she  could  be  queen.  Henry's 
motive,  too,  in  marrying  her,  was  equally  mer- 
cenary, Jais  only  object  being  to  secure  to  him- 
sen.  tnrough  her.  the  right  of  inheritance  to  her 
father's  claims  to  the  throne.  He  accordingly 
never  pretended  to  feel  any  love  for  her,  and, 


334        KING  KICHABD  III.  [A.D.1492. 

Queen  Elizabeth  Woodville.  Last  years  of  her  life, 

after  his  marriage,  lie  treated  her  with  great 
coldness  and  neglect. 

His  conduct  toward  her  poor  mother,  the 
dowager  queen,  Elizabeth  Woodville,  was  still 
more  unfriendly.  He  sent  her  to  a  gloomy 
monastery,  called  the  Monastery  of  Bermond- 
sey,  and  caused  her  to  be  kept  there  in  the  cus- 
tody of  the  monks,  virtually  a  prisoner.  The 
reason  which  he  assigned  for  this  was  his  dis- 
pleasure with  her  for  abandoning  his  cause,  and 
breaking  the  engagement  which  she  had  made 
with  him  for  the  marriage  of  her  daughter  to 
him,  and  also  for  giving  herself  and  her  daugh- 
ter up  into  Eichard's  hands,  and  joining  with 
him  in  the  intrigues  which  Kichard  formed  for 
connecting  the  princess  with  his  family.  In 
this  lonely  retreat  the  widowed  queen  passed 
the  remainder  of  her  days.  She  was  not  pre- 
cisely a  prisoner — at  least,  she  was  not  kept  in 
close  and  continual  confinement,  for  two  or 
three  times,  in  the  course  of  the  few  remaining 
years  that  she  lived,  she  was  brought,  on  spe- 
cial occasions,  to  court,  and  treated  there  with 
a  certain  degree  of  attention  and  respect.  One 
of  these  occasions  was  that  of  the  baptism  of 
her  daughter's  child. 

In  this  lonely  and  cheerless  retreat  the  queen 
lingered  a  few  years,  and  then  died.  Her  body 


r 


AD.1492.]  FIELD  OF  BOSWORTH.      337 


Her  death  and  burial. 


was  conveyed  to  "Windsor  for  interment,  and 
her  daughters  and  the  friends  of  her  family 
were  notified  of  the  event.  A  very  few  came 
to  attend  the  funeral.  Her  daughter  Elizabeth 
was  indisposed,  and  did  not  come.  The  inter- 
ment took  place  at  night.  A  few  poor  old  men, 
in  tattered  garments,  were  employed  to  officiate 
at  the  ceremony  by  holding  "  old  torches  and 
torches'  ends"  to  light  the  gloomy  precincts  of 
the  chapel  during  the  time  while  the  monks 
were  chanting  the  funeral  dirge. 
9—22 


THE  END. 


879  eTA™1''''" 


. 


